Through the Cupboard
by Neurotica
Summary: Complete. AU. Post-GoF. During his cleaning chores for Aunt Petunia, Harry is sent to clean out the cupboard under the stairs and after Dudley locks him in, he discovers something very odd in the wall that vaults him into another dimension.
1. One

**Disclaimer:** If you haven't realized it by now, I do not own the characters that you recognized in this story. They belong to JK Rowling.

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_One_

Following one of the worst nights of his life, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter sat on his bed in the smallest bedroom of Number Four, Privet Drive and tried not to fall asleep again. Every time he closed his eyes, his mind took him back to the graveyard, just as it had over the last few weeks, and forced him to relive the needless death of Cedric Diggory, the return of Lord Voldemort, and the vision of his parents pushing themselves out of the Dark Lord's wand. Harry had been dwelling on this last vision more than the others; he'd found that if he concentrated solely on his mother and father, the other things that happened that night were pushed aside long enough for him to get a few hours' rest.

This also took his mind off of his friends. Harry had received a few owls from Ron and Hermione, and even one from Sirius, but none of them were the least bit helpful in his current situation. Harry wanted to know what was happening in the wizarding world. Was the Ministry still being completely blind about Voldemort's return? Had there been any attacks? When would Harry get out of the Muggle house and back where he belonged? It had been frustrating; Harry had been the one to see Voldemort being returned to his body and now he was being completely left out of everything. He didn't like to think childish things such as '_this isn't fair' _or '_I'm not a baby anymore_,' but this was definitely the track his mind was beginning to take. Did they not think he could handle what was going on? He'd seen more than Hermione and Ron combined, but they were the ones who were involved in whatever was going on, together, while Harry was stuck on Privet Drive with only his Muggle relatives for company.

He felt himself drifting off to sleep, the image of his mother walking towards him firmly in mind, and his imagination took over and dragged into a dream world where he wasn't despised and treated like some naughty child who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. It was a world he preferred to this reality right now and anything he would be facing in the coming days.

* * *

As he slept, an ancient magic began filling the cupboard under the stairs where Harry had spent ten years before getting his Hogwarts letter. Though he wouldn't know for a few days longer, his dream world was about to make its way into Harry's real life and he would soon learn some wishes were better left ungranted.

* * *

As the days went on, Harry found himself dwelling less on the silence from his best friends and godfather as his aunt set him to chores around the house. Normally he would have preferred spending time outside, walking around the town with only his thoughts as company, but as Dudley and his gang of bullies had been on the prowl more often than not, Harry found it safer that he stay within in the confines of Number Four, even if Aunt Petunia was over his shoulder every few minutes barking orders on how he was dusting the plants incorrectly – he was supposed to _twirl_ the duster, not _sweep_ it across the leaves. How unfortunate that Hogwarts hadn't taught him proper Muggle cleaning techniques…

While Harry munched on a surprisingly decent lunch – Dudley hadn't come home as he preferred to have lunch with Piers Polkiss, so his leftover grilled chicken sandwich from the night before was left without somebody to digest it, and Aunt Petunia resignedly stuck it in front of him as he eyed hit hungrily from the table – his aunt was naming off other chores that needed to be done. Apparently they would be having a dinner party that weekend with a hopeful client of Uncle Vernon's. At this, Harry had to be careful not to think of the last time the Dursleys had hosted a dinner party; they still hadn't quite forgiven him for the Dobby incident.

"And the cupboard needs sweeping out," Petunia said as Harry washed his plate from lunch. "Dudley nearly swallowed a spider when he went for his leather jacket last week."

Hiding his amusement at a sudden image of his giant whale, wrestler of a cousin cowering in fear from a tiny spider, Harry nodded silently. Aunt Petunia handed him the broom and cleaning solution and told him to get to it, hinting he might get some time outside before dinner if he finished quickly enough. Rather warily, the fourteen-year-old wizard opened the cupboard under the stairs and stared inside for several minutes. It looked different, he thought, looking from the floor to the bottom of the steps above it. Hadn't it always been that small?

With a sigh, Harry began pushing aside some of the boxes that blocked the walls – most certainly they hid some of the evil spiders ickle Diddykins had fled from. Unbeknownst to him, his dear cousin was stampeding through the kitchen and either without knowing it or not caring – Harry was settling for the latter – Dudley pushed hard on the cupboard door, knocking Harry inside, and locked it. Yelling indignantly and rubbing his head where it had hit something hard, Harry tried to stand up, but realized immediately just how much he'd grown since he was eleven. Between the boxes, the coats, and who knew what else, it took Harry nearly five minutes to right himself so he was at least not upside down anymore. There was considerable noise coming from the kitchen, telling Harry immediately that Dudley had brought home several members of his little gang, and it wasn't long before he stopped yelling; over that lot, Aunt Petunia would be lucky to hear herself sneeze, let alone hear Harry's cries for help. And really, would she care? Harry was out of the way for the moment…

Harry rolled his eyes and tried to sit on a nearby box – he ended up falling right through it. Growling curses that would make Ron grin appreciatively, Harry fought his way out of the box of Dudley's old clothes, kicked it aside in annoyance, and sat on the floor. It would be a long afternoon.

* * *

Harry Potter's brilliant green eyes snapped open quite suddenly and he realized just as quickly that he'd fallen asleep, using one of Dudley's puffy winter coats as a pillow. He briefly marveled at how soft it was before his current predicament flooded back into his mind. Struggling to his feet again, Harry began beating on the cupboard door calling for help. All was silent, however, and a trickle of panic began to feel the boy's insides. There was no light coming through any of the cracks at the top, bottom, or sides of the door, suggesting quite firmly that night had fallen and his relatives had probably gone to bed. It took him a moment to get over the indignant thoughts that he'd been forgotten before he remembered who he was dealing with: the Dursleys were quite used to ignoring Harry's very existence and they probably very hopefully believed he'd run away or something. Regardless, Harry yelled at the top of his lungs, making as much noise as possible, but all he'd achieved was a rather sore throat and throbbing bare foot where he'd kicked the door.

He considered using magic to get out – underage wizards were allowed to use magic in emergencies, right? Then he wondered if this counted as an emergency; the Ministry would probably roll their eyes at crazy Harry Potter's attempt for attention and continue to drag his name through the mud, as which was the case during his last year at Hogwarts. Did he risk it? Surely Sirius would stand up for him, if, of course, he wasn't wanted by the Ministry for being Voldemort's right-hand man and the alleged murder of twelve Muggles and Peter Pettigrew. Well, then, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley or Dumbledore…

No, he finally decided, it really wasn't worth causing so much needless trouble for all the people he cared most about when there were more important things to deal with.

With a sigh, Harry was resigning himself to a few more hours in the cupboard – he'd start his noise-making again over breakfast. Surely the Dursleys wouldn't leave him there when they so desperately needed someone to pour their coffee and make their breakfast…

Then something very unexpected happened. Harry's brow furrowed deeply as he began to see a bead of light reflected in his glasses and tried to swallow his fear as the bead became much larger, nearly blinding him as it filled the cupboard. Gulping nervously, wishing desperately he'd thought of carrying his wand around in the house, Harry slowly turned and found himself oddly transfixed by what he was seeing: the light was coming directly from the wall, but it wasn't an ordinary light. It reminded him of the substance he had seen in Dumbledore's pensieve last year, not quite liquid, not quite solid. And that wasn't all. The substance in the wall seemed to be attempting to form a picture, but didn't seem to have the strength.

Curiosity getting the better of him – _what could happen in the Dursleys' house?_ he asked himself – Harry licked his lips, kicked aside the things in front of him, and raised a hand to the substance. His heart was racing as he drew nearer to it, his mind being completely ignored by the rest of his body as it screamed to him that it was a trap of some sort, Harry's fingers grazed the surface of what had once been the Dursleys' wall. It was squishy, almost like jell-o. He knew somewhere inside him that he should stay clear away from whatever this was, but the harder his fingers pushed on the substance, the more it resisted, and he found it an interesting challenge to see just how hard he'd have to push to break the surface.

Very suddenly indeed, his hand was fully immersed in this odd substance and Harry had a moment to contemplate that it was indeed almost the exact consistency of jell-o before something yanked him roughly through the once solid wall of the cupboard under the stairs.

* * *

**AN: **Yes, yes, another new story... I realize the first chapter is rather short, but anyone who has read my stuff... well, ever... knows that I very much enjoy cliffhangers. You know the drill! Click the pretty button, leave a review, and you'll get chapter two.


	2. Two

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Two_

Barely given the time to let out a proper yell of surprise, Harry Potter's fall through the wall in the cupboard under the stairs ended. He landed on something very soft, a bed, his mind eventually registered. Currently, he was staring in shock at the ceiling: he could see the strange jell-o-ish hole he come through shrinking rapidly and before he could even stand up on the soft, very comfortable bed to try to reach the very edge of it, it had gone. Very confused and shaken, Harry slumped back on the bed, his eyes tightly shut. Not long after, he assumed the shock of what had just happened had exhausted him enough that he was able to fall asleep.

It seemed only a few minutes later that the morning sun was shining in on him, demanding that he get up. He turned his back to the window and tried to block out the morning just a little longer. Then his eyes snapped open as he realized he was still wearing his glasses and was fully clothed, and the memory of the night before returned.

_It was a dream,_ he told himself very firmly. _Just a dream… I'm going to turn around and nothing will have changed: I'll still be in my bedroom, Aunt Petunia will be banging down the door soon to demand that I hurry and help her with some chore or another, and nothing will have changed._

But something was nagging at the back of his mind and he couldn't pinpoint it immediately as he pulled a very warm, very comfortable blanket over his body. He froze. He didn't have a very warm, very comfortable blanket. For years he'd been using a ragged old comforter of Dudley's covered with pictures of dinosaurs. Trying not to panic, Harry began to sit up in the bed – the incredibly comfortable bed that held no lumps, broken springs, or dips in the middle where the wooden braces had cracked after Dudley had spent so long jumping up and down on it.

His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he surveyed his surroundings. He was most certainly no longer in his bedroom in Number Four, Privet Drive. In fact, he was almost positive he wasn't even in the _house_ anymore. The room was friendly enough. Whoever lived here seemed to be a Gryffindor student at Hogwarts; this fact coming after Harry found several Gryffindor pennants and banners on the walls. It was a large room, much larger than anywhere Harry had ever slept… Well, except the Great Hall back in third year… There was a large wardrobe against the wall whose door was struggling to remain closed against the clothing that had been balled up and shoved inside; a desk directly across from the bed covered in parchment, quills, and ink stains; beside that was a bookshelf that the Dursleys never would have even allowed into their house considering every book title Harry could read from this distance referenced magic in some way. And then there was a the view through the window. Harry got on his hands and knees, still hesitant to touch the plush carpet floor regardless how soft it looked, and stared. That was not Privet Drive! From the window, Harry was staring into a forest and in the distance he could see rolling green hills that were in no way present in Little Whinging.

Just as Harry was beginning to take deep breaths to work out what to do next – was this some trick of Voldemort's? – the bedroom door burst open and he spun around automatically, looking at the bedside table for his wand. It was there, right beneath a lamp shaped like a broomstick and beside a clock that had bludgers as hands. He snatched up his wand and pointed it at the door before lowering it in surprise.

Standing in the doorway was a small boy with dark red, very untidy hair. He merely raised an eyebrow at Harry kneeled on his bed, his wand half-raised. "Mum says to come down to breakfast, but only if you're done sulking about the Quidditch match," he said rather pompously. It sounded like something that might have come out of Percy Weasley's mouth. "What are you wearing? Did you dig those out of the rubbish bin?" With a shake of his head, the small boy, who Harry put at about eight years old, turned and took off down the hallway.

Harry looked down at himself. He was wearing an old gray t-shirt that more resembled a dress on him and a pair of khaki shorts that reached his shins and had several holes in them. He was very confused. The boy spoke to him as though they'd known each other for ages, but Harry had definitely never seen him before. Harry wondered if maybe he was a Weasley, but shook that off; something about the boy was familiar and he couldn't figure out what it was. Deciding now was a good a time as any to investigate wherever he was, Harry carefully stepped on the carpet – it was much softer than he'd have believed – and went to the wardrobe, feeling the very sudden urge to change his clothes. Deciding on a hooded sweatshirt with the emblem of a lion on its front and pair of jeans with holes artfully ripped in the knees, Harry stuck his wand into the front pocket of the sweatshirt and slowly padded his way out into the hall.

_Definitely not the Dursleys'_, Harry thought shakily as he stared at the hallway. All along the walls were photographs of a family at various stages of its life. With a jolt, he spotted himself in a picture directly across from him and stepped forward to examine it further. Yes, that was him, yet it wasn't. He was kneeled in front of a couple, in between two other children, one of them the boy who had barged into the bedroom Harry had been in. Feeling his mouth go dry, Harry stared at the two people behind him. He recognized them immediately; he'd been thinking about them more often than he ever had over the last couple weeks. Lily Potter grinned happily at the camera, her dark red hair framing her face, and one pale hand placed on the shoulder of the little boy to Harry's right. Her other hand was being held tightly by the man at her side, James Potter. Harry's mouth fell open as he realized just how much he and his father looked alike – people had said it before, but having a side-by-side comparison sealed the deal.

How could this be? Harry's mother and father had died thirteen years ago almost, and he didn't have any younger siblings – he assumed that's who the two children on either side of him in the photo were. For a moment, he allowed hope to fill him before he very quickly squashed it. Maybe he'd fallen into some weird, alternate universe when he'd been stuck in the cupboard where his parents were very much alive and his had a younger brother and sister.

But no. Things like that just didn't happen. Did they? Harry had only been surrounded by the magical world for going on five years and he most certainly didn't know everything about it. He studied the other version of himself more closely. Something was different… This Harry seemed happy, his smile wide and genuine and his eyes not the least bit troubled by anything. Automatically, Harry's glanced up, expecting to see the familiar lightning scar just between his eyebrows; he gasped audibly when he realized it wasn't there. Immediately, Harry's hands flew to his own forehead, searching for the scar, unable to find it. He looked around the hallway, locating a bathroom at the very end. Bolting inside and slamming the door shut, he scrutinized his reflection in the mirror. The scar wasn't there.

What the hell was this? Some sort of joke? It was a rather weak one if that was what it was.

_A dream,_ his panicked mind supplied. _It's a dream. That's all…_

Harry reached a shaking hand to his cheek and pinched it hard. "Ow!" he cried, wincing and closing his eyes against the tears that built up at the pain. When he opened his eyes again, his cheek was very pink where he'd pinched. "It's not a dream." He wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself or keep himself from trying to pinch other parts of his body to test again. Swallowing hard, he sat on the toilet and thought over his options. He was in a strange house with strange people. What had he gotten himself into this time?

"Harry!" called a female voice from the bottom of the stairs. "Your waffles are getting cold!"

Harry winced at the voice. He wasn't sure why. The voice sounded kind enough… Just as his mother's had when he was standing in the graveyard across from Voldemort. It had a sort of edge to it that Harry associated with Mrs. Weasley: a good deal of love and authority. Unsure what else to do, so he stood up, checked his reflection again in the mirror, and opened the door before heading back through the hallway and down the stairs. He looked around automatically, registering little details like how the house was clean, but not in an Aunt Petunia kind of way; more like whoever cleaned here realized there was only so much they could do before another mess was caused.

At the bottom of the stairs, he looked around uncertainly. There was a door directly in front of him that he assumed led outside – he could run for it, try to contact Dumbledore or Sirius – but he turned his back to it, now staring down a narrow hallway that led to a kitchen where all the activity was occurring. Over children's laughter, he could hear a man's voice reading something aloud as frying pans sizzled, silverware was placed on plates, and Harry was unable to stop his feet from taking him to the very center of the noise. Against his body's wishes, he stopped dead in the doorframe. In this room were all the people he'd seen in the family portrait upstairs, including the redheaded boy who had burst into his bedroom. Hidden from view by a copy of the _Daily Prophet_, sitting at the other side of the table from the two children, a man was stirring his morning coffee idly as he read. Harry looked to his right and was sure his heart stopped. Forgetting every thought he'd had about a trap from Voldemort or some very strange dream, Harry knew without delay that it was his mother placing cooked bacon onto a plate beside waffles and eggs. Her shoulders were shaking in what Harry believed was silent laughter as the man behind the newspaper read something to her – Harry didn't have the mind to actually listen to what he was talking about.

Harry jumped several inches as a chair was noisily shoved back and somebody very small cried out his name before jumping off the booster seat she'd been placed in. Without thinking about it, Harry caught the small black-haired girl in his arms and his silent study of the kitchen was ruined as all the attention was called to him.

The man behind the newspaper had lowered it slowly, his eyebrows raised as his eyes danced in amusement and his lips twitched. "Decided to grace us with your presence, have you?" he teased.

Harry nodded numbly, realizing that the little girl in his arms was struggling to get down. He let her drop to the floor and watched as she returned to her chair and climbed back in to finish off her breakfast.

"Well, have a seat," Lily Potter said, watching him closely. He glanced at her briefly before looking around the table and choosing a seat beside the little girl. "Hungry?"

"Er," Harry said dumbly. Apparently this was a rhetorical question; before he'd fully sat, a plate landed in front of him beside a glass of fresh pumpkin juice. Nothing else made sense except starting to cover his food in syrup and starting to eat the meal he'd been given. He did so slowly, still completely uncertain what was going on. The food tasted real enough and very closely competed with Mrs. Weasley's cooking.

Lily sat down in her own chair around the circular table beside James, still glancing at Harry as she ate. "I know you're still upset with us about the Quidditch match," she said, cutting up her waffle. "But you have to understand that we're only looking out for your safety." When Harry didn't know how to respond, she went on, a soft look in her eyes. "I was thinking maybe you and I could make a trip to Diagon Alley today. We'll need to get your school things before long and it's a nice enough day…"

"Can I go too?" asked the small girl beside Harry.

Lily smiled at her, but shook her head. "Not today, Piper," she responded, causing a very pouty look to appear on the girl's face. "Maybe another time."

"Well, they have to go somewhere," James argued. "I have to work today."

The woman stared at him. "James, it's a _Sunday_!" she said incredulously. "Since when do you work on Sundays?"

"Since Sirius figured out how to charm his motorbike to go faster than the speed of sound," sniggered the boy whose name Harry didn't yet know.

Lily gave James a look of annoyance exasperation. "Really?" she asked, rolling her eyes. James was busy glaring at the redheaded boy across from him. "James, you are not going to go off gallivanting with Sirius today!"

"It's not like I'm there every day, Lily," James continued to argue. "I can't tell you the last time I actually spent a day with my friends that didn't involve something work-related. I think I deserve it!"

"Yes, well, your children need someone to look after them," Lily said coolly. James seemed to know the battle was lost; Harry thought he could've come up with better arguments, but remained quiet. "Your life doesn't revolve around the Marauders anymore. You'll do well to remember that."

A slight cloud of tension covered the kitchen for a few minutes as the people at the table ate their meals. The only sound was forks against plates. The tension left just as suddenly as it appeared when there was a very creative knock on the front door. The eyes of the two younger children widened and lit up as they apparently recognized the sound immediately.

"Caleb and Piper!" James called, abandoning his breakfast to chase the children down the hallway. "How many times have I told you not to open the door until your mother or I have said it's okay?"

"But it's Sirius!" whined the boy, Caleb, Harry's mind supplied.

Harry's heart jumped into his throat. Sirius was here. If nothing else, he'd be able to see a familiar face…

Lily stood, rolling her eyes in fond exasperation as she began taking the plates to the sink. Harry wasn't sure if he was supposed to help or not – he very badly wanted to see Sirius – but he felt it was only right to help this woman, his mother, clear the table first. He realized quickly this wasn't something her Harry normally did. She looked over her shoulder as she sensed somebody behind her and very nearly dropped her wand that she was directing to wash dishes at the sight of him. "Are you okay?" she asked as Harry placed the dishes on the counter. He noticed that she was pleased at the change, but concerned at the same time. "Since when do you help clean up?"

Harry half-shrugged, unable to look her directly in the face for some reason. A blush creeping up his neck and cheeks. "Consider it an apology for my behavior," he muttered. As he turned away, he had no idea where the words had come from – they'd just fallen out of his mouth – but he knew somehow it was exactly the right thing to say. Though he didn't look over his shoulder as he left the kitchen, he felt Lily staring at his back.

"Harry!" called a voice at the front door. Harry's face snapped over and found the owner of the voice kneeled down as the two children climbed over him. "How've you been?"

Harry stopped in his tracks. He'd been hoping to see a familiar face, but this was not his godfather. The Sirius Black in front of him wasn't one who had spent twelve years in Azkaban feeling the full effects of dementors day and night. His eyes weren't dead and hollowed, but bright and full of life. His hair was cut short, his face full, his body not the thin skeleton he knew his godfather to have. This was the Sirius he'd seen in the photos Hagrid had given him. He looked a little older, but otherwise no different than he had in the photo of when he'd been best man at Harry's parents' wedding.

His staring went unnoticed as Sirius stood with the little girl in his arms and addressed James in a conspiring whisper. "Ready?" he asked excitedly.

James winced and craned his neck around the staircase and down the hall to where his wife was still working in the kitchen. "'Fraid not, mate," he said apologetically. "Change of plans, we're babysitting today."

Sirius' face fell rather comically, but after a moment, his smile was back in place as he shrugged. "Ah, well," he replied, ruffling Caleb's red hair. "I'm sure there's some sort of trouble we can cause here. Harry, you still have those dungbombs?"

"Sirius, I better not have heard what I think I heard," came Lily's threatening tone from the kitchen. Harry looked over his shoulder and saw amusement in her eyes as she dried her hands on a dish towel.

The wizard gave her a charming smile. "Of course not, Lily dear," he said smoothly. "I was merely inquiring whether my dear godson has disposed of those horrid items properly. We wouldn't want his younger siblings getting a hold of them, would we?"

Rolling their eyes at one another, Lily and James ushered the smaller children and Sirius into what Harry assumed might be the sitting room. He made to follow but Lily stopped him. "Why don't you go get your book list?" she suggested. "I don't want to be out too late…"

Something in her tone sounded nervous, but Harry shook it off for the moment. With a silent nod, Harry returned to what he assumed was the other Harry's bedroom. Whatever was going on here, it didn't seem to cause any immediate damage or danger, and Harry was curious what it would be like to have a proper family. Wasn't it what he'd always dreamed about? What harm could it cause, letting this thing play out a little longer? He'd be able to feed his curiosity and get a bit of a break from his real home life.

* * *

Nearly an hour later, after a rather lengthy tantrum from Piper that she wasn't allowed to go along, Harry was stumbling out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron and looked around as he waited on Lily – he was unable to think of the woman as his mother just yet, even in his own mind. The wizard pub looked just as different as the rest of Harry's dream world. Everywhere he looked, witches and wizards ate their meals and sipped at their drinks with a sense of paranoia. More than one person looked nervously over their shoulders during the time Harry was waiting, but he didn't have much time to dwell on why this was happening; the fireplace behind him burst into flames again and he just barely got out of the way in time for Lily to step neatly out.

She too looked around the pub for a moment, a strange expression on her face, but a moment later, she placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, a smile in place, and steered him through the pub and out into the back alleyway where they found the wall that led to Diagon Alley. With a few taps from her wand, the bricks began to fade away, forming the familiar archway into the wizarding shopping area. Harry had expected to find it in the same state it had been the last time he was here, but even Diagon Alley had changed. Everywhere he looked, shops looked to be abandoned, their windows covered with boards and signs on the doors stating that the shop owners had gone on holiday somewhere. Not many people were here, either. Those who were stayed in tight knit groups as they moved quickly around, their eyes darting this way and that as though searching for danger.

Harry looked curiously up at Lily, but she didn't seem the least bit surprised by what she saw. They walked quickly and silently through the alley and Harry was becoming more confused. Every few feet were little kiosks with dodgy looking wizards trying to sell passersby things like amulets that changed the user into over a hundred different disguises or herbs that claimed to turn a person into a chameleon in order to hide more easily. Harry thought his Invisibility Cloak was much easier.

"In here, sweetie."

It took Harry a moment to figure out who Lily as talking to, then she gently pushed him into Madam Malkin's and he fought to hide a smile – no one had ever called him "sweetie."

"You're going to need new robes this year," Lily told him with a sigh. "After that last growth spurt of yours, the hem of your old ones nearly reach your knees. Go ahead and get in line, I'm going to have a look around."

Harry nodded and went to stand behind a couple boys who looked to be in sixth year. He couldn't recall seeing them at Hogwarts, but as different as everything else around him was, he wasn't surprised by that. It was nearly half an hour before Harry could even see the stools where the students were being measured and fitted. Somewhere behind him, he heard a dull jingling noise that he recognized to be the bell above the door that announced a new customer's arrival. Above the noise of the people in the packed shop, Harry was able to recognize a group of familiar voices that caused a wave of relief to hit him so hard that he nearly fell backwards into a group of second year girls.

"Mum, we can get our own robes," Ron Weasley was trying to argue. "By the time we get out of here, you can have all our other shopping done!"

Harry heard Molly Weasley sigh while he was trying to crane his head around the crowd to get a clear look at the redheads. They were blocked by a group of tall boys. "Oh all right," Mrs. Weasley finally said. "But if you finish before I'm back you are to _stay here_. Is that understood, Ron? Ginny?"

He could almost see in his mind's eye the strict stare the Weasley matriarch gave her two youngest children, and the eye rolls those two children made as their mother left the shop again. Briefly, he considered getting out of line and going back to join his best friend, but just as his foot stepped forward, somebody grabbed his arm firmly and directed him onto one of the stools to be measured.

"Please stay still," said the exasperated voice of Madam Malkin herself. Her gray hair was hanging out in strands over her stressed, tired-looking face as she directed a tape to measure Harry. "Arms out, now…"

Harry followed the woman's directions while at the same time trying to spot where Ron had gone in the crowd – he could just see the top of his best friend's mop of red hair. Nearly ten minutes later, Harry was being yanked off the stool and shunted forward where his mother waited at the counter with a pile of robes. She smiled at his indignant look of being pushed around so forcefully; Harry got the distinct impression she was very amused by the sight. Her eyes dancing, she showed Harry the selection of robes she'd selected for him. "Look good?" she asked him quietly.

He nodded.

She raised an eyebrow at him. Before she could speak, a young witch arrived behind the counter to cash them out and listened to Lily tell her that they needed the Gryffindor emblem sewn on. "Of course, ma'am," the young witch said. "Would you like to come pick them up or have them sent by owl when we've finished?"

Harry wandered away a little, hoping to get a better glance of Ron. He looked over his shoulder, finding Lily was busy at the counter, and made his way through the crowd until he found the two Weasley children standing in line. "Ron!" Harry called in relief.

Ron Weasley looked around the crowd for a moment before spotting Harry. The confusion on his face was quite evident when he realized who was addressing him. "Er, hi, Harry," he said slowly, warily. "Er, good summer?"

"You wouldn't believe what's happened," Harry said, ignoring the tone in his best friend's voice. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ron seemed completely bewildered by the current situation. "Well, let's think about it," he said, seemingly starting to get a bit annoyed, "when was the last time you talked to me when it didn't involve pulling some stupid joke on me with Seamus?"

"_Seamus?_" Harry asked, his mind racing.

"Yeah, you know, Seamus, your best friend…?" Ron said leadingly. He rolled his eyes and turned his back on Harry as the line began to move a little.

Before Harry could think of anything to say, Lily was coming behind him and urging him out the door. "Come on, we've still got a lot to do," she said as they exited.

Harry was still looking over his shoulder, trying to see Ron. All he could see was the back of his best friend's neck as its color began to match his hair. What kind of twisted place was this? Ron Weasley was his best friend, not Seamus Finnigan. Ron seemed to hate him here; what was all that about his pulling stupid pranks on Ron? There was a slight taste of bile in the back to Harry's throat as he blindly followed Lily's path into the different shops to gather his school supplies. He was so sure that no matter where he was Ron Weasley would still be his best friend. Hermione Granger's face appeared in his mind next. Did this mean he wasn't friends with her either? The very thought was almost painful.

What else was different?

Over ice cream sundaes at a table beside Florean Fortescue's, Harry looked around Diagon Alley rather miserably. This was what he wanted, right? To have his mother and father back in his life, to be cared for? But what kind of life was it without his two best friends at his side? This was not what he wanted. He'd wanted the best of both worlds – his best friends and his parents. Obviously, wherever he was, this would not be the case.

"Harry, what's wrong with you today?" Lily said very bluntly over her banana split. Harry's eyes snapped up to her and found the witch had been watching him for some time. "You've been very quiet and didn't even argue when I suggested you get a book on doing your own makeup magically."

Harry struggled to remember when this had happened before realizing she was teasing him. "I'm fine," he said quickly, scooping a spoonful of chocolate and marshmallow ice cream into his mouth in an attempt to prove the point.

The witch sighed. "You're as stubborn as your father sometimes," she muttered. "Look, I'm sorry you're not getting the party you want for your birthday; there's just too much going on right now without worrying about taking a dozen fifteen-year-olds to France for a Quidditch match. Another time, all right?"

Harry's brow furrowed. What was his other self's problem? How long had he been pouting over some stupid Quidditch match? "Honestly," he finally said, knowing Lily was expecting a response, "I'm not worried about that anymore. I understand you're busy."

Not seeming to believe him, Lily eventually nodded and when they finished their ice cream, she quietly suggested they head home before it got dark. Harry readily agreed, hoping to get some time alone to think things through.

* * *

**AN:** Thanks for the reviews so far! Hope people are still finding this fascinating. Only way for me to know what you think? Review, please!


	3. Three

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Three_

"I'm worried about him, James," Lily Potter told her husband as they readied themselves for bed. "He's never this quiet or so easily agreeable to anything, he never has been. He didn't say more than half a dozen words in Diagon Alley today. That's not like him."

James sighed as he lay down in bed. "I wouldn't worry about it, Lil. He's a teenager; he's probably going through some ridiculous adolescent stage where he pushes himself further from his parents." He shrugged unconcernedly. "By the time his birthday gets here, he'll have forgotten all about it."

Lily wasn't convinced. "Did you look at his face today?" she asked, crawling into bed beside James. "He looks… sad and terrified."

Wrapping comforting arms around her, James rested his cheek on the top of her hair. "If it'll make you feel better," he began slowly, "if he's not over whatever this is in a few days, I'll talk to him. But I'm telling you, it's nothing."

With a small nod, Lily pulled away from him to shut off the bedside lamp before curling up on the bed. She fell asleep long after her husband did, her mind stuck on her nearly fifteen-year-old son down the hallway.

* * *

Down the hall Harry Potter also laid awake in bed, staring at the ceiling as he half-expected it to open up again to admit him back to the real world. Though he didn't know what he should have been expecting, this was most certainly not it. Sure he had his parents and two younger siblings, one of which, Piper, seemed to worship the very ground he walked on, but everything else was all wrong. The trip to Diagon Alley had far from alleviated his confusion and worry – he'd gone over everything from how people were acting to Ron's reaction to Harry even daring to speak to him at Madam Malkin's and he didn't know what to make of any of it.

The only bright side he'd come up with so far was that he wasn't surrounded by Dursleys who demanded he wait on them hand and foot. Well, that and nobody was staring at his scar or treating him like some head case criminal as they did on Privet Drive. And what exactly did it mean that his scar was gone? He'd gotten the scar when his mother had sacrificed herself to save Harry. Did that mean Voldemort had never hunted down him or his family? Right now, he wanted nothing more than to send an owl to Sirius and Hermione; surely they'd be able to make sense of this. But in this world, Sirius would think he was insane and Hermione might not even know his name.

Harry sighed heavily, unable to get comfortable even in this wonderful bed; he rolled over, threw his legs over the side of the bed, forced his glasses on his face, and headed out to the hallway. During his time with the Dursleys, he never would have dared a late-night roaming of the house, but he didn't think anybody here would really mind. He was really starting to enjoy this places. He'd only ever spent more than a few hours in two houses – the Dursleys' and the Burrow – and this place was right in the middle of those. It was obviously magical; everywhere Harry looked there was evidence of that: moving photographs on the walls, a jar of Floo powder on the mantle above the fireplace, and even a mirror in the downstairs bathroom that warned a person if they had something in their teeth before they left. Yet it still had a rather Muggle-ish look about it that told Harry that it wouldn't take much work to disguise the magical elements before it would be perfectly safe for a Muggle to come in without having to wipe their memory.

In the kitchen, Harry poured himself a cold glass of milk and sat at the table to stare out the window. His first day here hadn't really been all bad, he pondered. His parents were just as he imagined – regardless of whatever they had gone through, they still seemed to love each other very much and still found some time to have fun. James still seemed to have a bit of his Marauder self left, judging by the way he was interacting with Sirius that day… He could really start to get used to this.

"Harry?" asked a voice from the hallway.

The boy choked on his milk and looked over to find James watching him curiously as he too reached in the fridge for a glass of milk.

"Can't sleep?" James asked as he joined Harry at the table.

"No," Harry replied, fighting between wanting to look at his father and continue his staring outside.

The wizard nodded and yawned. "Me neither." He was quiet for a few moments as he studied Harry. James sighed and hesitated. "Listen, your mum is a little worried about you. She thinks something's bothering you and for whatever reason you don't want to come to us about it. But you know that you can come to us with anything, don't you?"

Harry looked over at him in surprise. "Yeah, of course," he responded promptly. This, just like several other of the things he'd said that day, just came out of his mouth automatically.

James studied him carefully. "Is there something you want to talk about?" he asked quietly.

For a few moments, Harry seriously considered spilling everything to the man beside him. He wanted nothing more than to tell James everything – that he didn't belong here; he was supposed to be fast asleep in a rubbish bed in a small bedroom inside the Dursleys' home. He wanted to tell James all about getting locked in the cupboard under the stairs by Dudley and about the strange hole that had formed in the wall that sent him to this place. He wanted to confess his fear that his two best friends weren't his best friends anymore and how badly he needed them.

But of course, he didn't. Harry shook his head at James. "No, I'm okay," he said.

Regardless that James obviously didn't believe he was the least bit okay, he nodded. "I know I'm not home as much as I could be lately, but I want you and your brother and sister to have the best life you can. You know that, right? You three and your mum are my life and I wouldn't trade you for anything. I probably don't tell you that enough." He gave Harry a wry smile. For his part, Harry was silently trying to figure out why James would be away from his family. "You know, when you were a baby and we first moved into this place, your mum had to force me by wandpoint to put you in your cot and let you sleep." Harry smiled at the image. "You were the happiest baby I'd ever met and I was so relieved when you started actually sleeping through the night; much as I loved you, there wasn't anything I hated more than rolling out of bed after a long day at work and trying to deal with your teething or something." James grinned and showed Harry a tiny, almost invisible scar on his pinky finger. "That, my dearest son, is the result of your third tooth. Nobody realized it was growing in and you were throwing a constant tantrum, then you got a hold of my finger; you drew blood. Remus and Sirius were quite impressed." By the sound of it, James had been impressed as well that his infant son had drawn blood with a new tooth.

"Anyway, pointless as this little father-son talk may seem, I think what I'm really trying to say is that anytime you want to talk about something, day or night, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, you can come to me. Just keep that in mind, yeah?" Harry nodded again as James stood to rinse his glass. "Perk up a bit, kid. Your birthday's coming up soon, all your friends will be here, and we're going to have a party that will annoy our Muggle neighbors for the next six months. What more could a boy want?" Harry managed a laugh. James winked. "Get some sleep, your mum's going to need your help with Caleb and Piper tomorrow."

It wasn't much later that Harry returned to his bedroom, feeling a little better about where he was and who he was surrounded by. Though he himself hadn't really said much, just the fact that he'd actually had a father-son talk at all made him feel like he belonged here more than anything else that had happened that day – somebody within the house he currently resided in actually cared about his feelings and thoughts. All the other little details, like Ron and Hermione, could be figured out and corrected with time and Harry was finally willing to adopt a wait-and-see sort of attitude, at least for the time being.

* * *

Over the next few days, Harry found himself slipping into his new life much more easily than he thought he would be able to manage. He was very much enjoying the new role of big brother to Caleb and Piper, even though Caleb seemed to prefer sitting alone in a room more often than not reading some book than interacting with Harry. Hesitant as he was to refer to Lily and James as his mother and father for fear that the moment he did they would disappear in front of his very eyes, being around them was nearly as comfortable as being around Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Lily seemed to enjoy doting on her children, taking time out of her day every chance she had to make them some sort of snack or just sit with them. This one-on-one time was quickly becoming the highlight of Harry's day.

It wasn't until the third or fourth day of Harry's strange visit that he began to get more information on the status of the rest of this world. After James left for work that morning – Harry found out over dinner the night before that he worked as an Auror in the Ministry of Magic – he managed to get a hold of a copy of the _Daily Prophet_. He hadn't noticed until that moment that every time the Potter parents finished with the newspaper it disappeared from the kitchen; Harry assumed this was to protect their children from whatever was there. If this was the case, Harry understood why once he read the headline of the front page. There was a large black and white photo of the dark mark Harry had seen at the Quidditch World Cup last year and beside that was an article that described the rather brutal murder of a small family in North Yorkshire. Harry let the paper fall to the table in disgust before he had to read details of what the Reductor Curse from the Death Eaters had done to one of the children.

"Why are you reading that, Harry?" Lily asked with a heavy sigh as she entered the kitchen after having to chase Piper around the house – the little girl had grabbed her mother's wand and was attempting to turn one of the plants in the hallway into a puppy. "It's not going to do anything but ruin your morning."

Harry didn't protest when she took the paper and buried it under the remnants of that morning's breakfast in the rubbish bin. "So the Ministry believes he's back?" Harry said quietly. He hadn't meant to speak aloud, but the moment he did, he knew he wouldn't be able to take it back.

"Who's back?" Lily asked distractedly as she directed her wand to clean the counters and stove.

Again, before he could hold back his comment, his mouth was open and the words were slipping out: "Voldemort."

Lily turned around at this, staring at him. "What do you mean 'back'? Harry, where do you think he's gone? He never left."

He tried to hide his shock at this declaration. Had he really expected to be thrown into a world where Voldemort never existed? That would be simple. And since when was anything in Harry Potter's life simple? He very much wanted to look back into Lily's eyes and try to convince her that her son hadn't gone completely insane, but all the words were stuck at the back of his throat. Before he could even open his mouth to say anything, Piper was running into the kitchen, begging to be allowed to play outside.

Lily's attention snapped away from Harry down to her youngest child. "What? Oh, sure, Pipe. Harry, will you go out with her? I don't want her outside alone… Just don't leave the property line."

Eager to get away from Lily's suspicious eyes, Harry agreed and took Piper's hand as he slid on his shoes and allowed the four-year-old to lead him out into the backyard. "Will you take me flying, Harry?" the small girl asked him as she bounced up and down, still holding Harry's hand.

"Er," Harry said, looking around the backyard. He'd love to fly, but he hadn't brought his Firebolt.

_Wait a tic,_ his mind said. _You're in a house with James Potter, legendary Gryffindor Chaser. There has to be a broomstick around here somewhere…_

"Sure, we can fly," Harry told Piper. "Er, I'll race you to the brooms."

Piper's emerald green eyes, which matched Harry's exactly, lit up. She dropped her brother's hand and Harry grinned at his moment of genius before chasing her around the side of the house to a small broom closet that Harry assumed would have housed a lawnmower and other outdoor tools in a Muggle home. She yanked the door open, then tilted her head backwards so that she had an upside-down view of Harry's arrival. "I win!" she said happily.

Harry chuckled and placed a hand on the girl's head as he observed the broomsticks inside. To his great delight, the Firebolt seemed to exist in this world as well and the one before him was an exact model of his own back on Privet Drive. But just as he was reaching for it, Piper stopped him. "That's Daddy's broom!" she said in a loud, dramatic whisper. "We're not supposed to touch it, 'member?"

Harry's heart fell. "Oh, yeah, of course… Well, which broom do you want to use, then?"

Piper rolled her eyes and pointed at the broomstick hanging in the left side of the closet. "That one, silly."

A Nimbus 2001. Brilliant. This world's Harry was flying on Draco Malfoy's broomstick. _Ah well. Better this than nothing, right? And who knows… Everything else in this world is different. Maybe Draco and his scum family are poor and homeless. A bloke can hope, can't he? _

With this intriguing thought in mind, Harry took the Nimbus 2001 out of the closet, trying not to admit the obvious superiority it had to Harry's old Nimbus 2000 and reminding himself that he really did own a Firebolt. He let it drop to the ground and rise to mounting height before realizing that not only did he have get on, but he had to figure out how to fly with a small child. After a few moments of deliberation, he finally mounted the broomstick and reached out to grab a very eager Piper, placing her just in front of him. This was obviously not her first time doing this: she immediately grabbed onto the broom and held on tight. Grinning at the cuteness of the situation, Harry kicked off the ground carefully, not wanting to go too high just yet – he didn't know whether Piper was afraid of heights or if Lily would be annoyed that he had flown high above the treetops at top speed.

Just the feeling of fresh air rushing past his face and hair was enough to make Harry feel more normal than he had in so long. _This_ was where he belonged. In the air. Not worrying about anything or anybody around him. Well, except for the small body set firmly in front of him. Harry glanced down at Piper's head of long black hair and thought he saw a look on her face that he was certain was the exact expression he wore every time he flew.

He had no idea where the Potters' property line ended or why they weren't allowed to leave it, but he was careful to keep the house in view as he and Piper slowly weaved in and out of the trees. After an hour or so of this, Harry spotted a small clearing and held onto the girl's waist as he pushed the broom tip down to land. Once his feet touched the ground, he let Piper dismount first, then followed her lead, leaning the Nimbus 2001 against a tree. Looking around, the clearing reminded Harry of the orchard where the Weasley children played Quidditch during summers. A pang hit him as he recalled spending the last few weeks before the start of fourth year with Ron, Ginny, and their brothers. This brought on thoughts of the rest of the events of that year, including the rebirth of Lord Voldemort. What did it mean for Voldemort to have never been destroyed after his attack on Harry as an infant? Recalling the shock he'd received upon finding his lightning scar was no longer on his forehead, he wondered if this was related.

"Ow!" cried Piper from the other side of the clearing.

Harry spun around and found the little girl, his sister, had tripped over something and was now on the ground, holding her knee, and crying. He sprinted over and kneeled at her side, trying to get her to move her fingers so he could see what happened. "Piper, you have to let me see!" he insisted, having no luck in prying the girl's fingers from the knee. She was quite strong for being so small.

"No, Caleb says if I let go, my leg will fall off!" she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Rolling his eyes and silently promising to teach Caleb a lesson about scaring his younger sister, Harry sat down on the ground. "It's not going to fall off," he said patiently. "You just scraped your knee, that's all." Piper still wasn't eager to let go of her knee. Harry sighed and looked around a moment. "Who do you trust more? Harry, who's never lied to you a day in your life, or Caleb, who stuffed your shoes full of frog spawn last summer?" Harry stopped suddenly. Where had that come from? Whatever it was, it seemed to work; Piper's tears were starting to dry and the grip on her knee was loosening. A moment later, Harry was able to see a very shallow scrape on the little girl's kneecap. There wasn't much blood, but the wound was covered in dirt and grass. To avoid infection, she'd have to get it cleaned before anything else. "Come on," Harry said, standing and pulling Piper into his arms. "We'll have Mum fix you right up."

By the time they'd landed in the backyard of the Potter house, Piper had very nearly forgotten about her fall. She hopped off the broomstick without any help from Harry and skipped into the house where he could very clearly hear her telling Lily about flying with Harry, and oh by the way, she fell so could Lily please put a bandage on her knee. Harry came through the backdoor to find Piper set on the kitchen counter, kicking her legs back and forth while Lily tried to clean her knee with her wand.

"Harry did all these really neat dives, Mummy!" Piper was saying happily.

"Did he?" Lily asked, glancing over her shoulder to throw Harry a smile and wink. "Were you afraid?"

"No! Harry held onto me really tight and didn't let go until we got to the ground."

"Oh good," Lily said in dramatized relief. "We wouldn't want you to fall into the trees and have to be a dessert for the bowtruckles, would we?"

Harry snorted, but before he could contribute to the conversation, a strange buzzing noise filled the house. Every bit of humor disappeared immediately at the sound. Lily stood straight up again, alert and slightly worried-looking. Caleb ran in from another room, a book under his arm and his eyes wide with fear.

"Do you have your wand?" Lily asked Harry in a whisper.

He shook his head. "It's upstairs in my room," he replied, trying to figure out what was going on. It was rather difficult to think as the noise grew louder and more urgent.

Lily nodded. "Take Piper and Caleb to your room, lock the door, and don't come out until I've come for you. Do you understand?" She looked at all three of her children until each of them nodded. "Go, then."

Harry let Piper attach herself to his back, her arms around his neck as Caleb quickly led the way upstairs to Harry's bedroom where the house seemed to barricade them inside – the moment the door was shut, some sort of magic seemed to wash over the it, sealing it off from the rest of the house. The buzzing noise seemed to stop as well, but when Harry tried to creep to the door and hear what was happening outside, he realized the room was soundproofed as well.

"What was that?" he asked, turning to Caleb and Piper. The boy was sitting cross-legged on Harry's bed, Piper right beside him, shaking as she held on tightly to her brother's arm.

Caleb raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't you ever listen to what Mum and Dad tell us?" he asked. When Harry could only look at him blankly, he sighed in annoyance, glancing sidelong at Piper. "The property is charmed to warn us when somebody we don't want here comes in within a certain distance. That sound is caused by that somebody crossing the house's wards. It means someone knows we're here, but since we're covered by the Fidelius Charm, they can't see us and they're trying to take down charms and things to get closer." He reached over and gently covered Piper's ears with his hands; she let him and he continued in a whisper, "Last time it went off, it meant Voldemort was in the area."

* * *

**AN:** Oh, is that another cliffhanger? *grins* Sorry about that. You guys have no idea how much of a relief it is to know that people are enjoying this story. Please keep up the encouragement by way of reviewing. Also, I really wouldn't get used to me updating every day. Right now, I'm really into the plot, so things are coming easily, but the evil known as Real Life is starting to butt in its ugly head again. Again, thanks for reading!


	4. Four

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Four_

Lily Potter stood at the foot of the stairs and waited for her children to disappear into Harry's bedroom and for the saferoom charm to activate. That had been an idea of James' about five years ago: the moment the wards alerted them of approaching danger, and Lily or James gave one or all of their children an order to go into any room of the house and stay there until one of them retrieved them when danger passed, the room would essentially disappear and the door that led to the room would appear as nothing more than a stretch of unused wall. Should anything happen to whichever parent was left to deal with the danger, the room would transport the children to the Ministry of Magic where they would be safe. She listened carefully for the simple ding that would tell her the charm was active and her children were all in Harry's bedroom. If worse came to worse, Harry was quick with his wand; he could take care of Piper and Caleb.

_But it's not going to come to that,_ she told herself. _It's probably just a squirrel or something. The charm's been getting a little buggy lately…_

_Ding._

Lily sighed in relief at the activated charm and turned around, her wand tightly in hand as she opened the front door and stepped onto her patio to have a look around. They'd been living just outside Godric's Hollow, rather deep in the woods, since Harry had been born. Their closest neighbors were a few miles away; this both had positive and negative points. The kids could fly around on their broomsticks and play Quidditch all they wanted as long as they remained within their property and would not be seen. Should there be any trouble in the Potter household, like evil wizards wandering in through the front door, no innocent Muggles who have no idea what's happening would be affected. On the downside, they were practically in the middle of nowhere, making it that much easier for something to happen without anybody realizing it before it was too late.

_Which is why we have charms over our house…_

The surrounding trees were empty of sound and movement, and the moment Lily waved her wand, the siren within the house came to an abrupt halt, allowing her to fully concentrate on her current situation. The area seemed clear, but Lily wasn't naïve enough to believe she and her children were alone; the ways wizards could make themselves invisible to others were too numerous to even think about, especially over the last several months. Somewhere deep within the forest, a scream cut through the air and though Lily knew what had caused the scream, she struggled not to help the person who had been hexed.

Sirius had been the one to help setup the hexing. He and James had spent several hours in the forest one weekend setting wards and charms around the property line; he hadn't wanted to think his best friend and family's safety depended solely the correct functioning of a few breakable charms. And so, he'd happily and eagerly arranged it so that any unwanted person entering the Potters' property could only go so far without getting a nasty shock hex; if they got further than that, it was a hex that caused a feeling of fire ants crawling all over a person and biting them simultaneously. Should they manage to somehow crawl their way to the edge of the trees, they were lifted in the air, stunned, and slammed painfully to the ground.

Lily waited to see if any of the other two hexes were activated, but they weren't. Instead, from the gap in the trees, Lily spotted a very familiar patronus sprinting towards her. "Please call off the attack," said the very tired bright white wolf.

Cursing, Lily took off into the grass and into the woods where she found Remus Lupin curled up on the ground, his back against a tree, not daring to move an inch. "Oh, Remus, I'm so sorry!" she cried, kneeling to his level. He looked horrible. His sandy-brown hair had more gray streaks than when she'd last seen him. He'd lost a severe amount of weight – his robes hung loosely off his shoulders. "Are you all right?"

He managed a weak grin. "Oh yes, there's nothing I enjoy more than being electrocuted on the way to see my friends," he said with teasing sarcasm.

Lily gave him a look. "I'm sorry," she said again. "We didn't know when you were getting back; it's been three months and you've fallen off the safe list."

He waved this off. "It's okay," he insisted. "I should have thought to owl ahead…" He let her help him off the ground. "You can repay me with an ice cold glass of lemonade and your famous lasagna."

Lily chuckled before she waved her wand and muttered a complicated string of words. A holographic list appeared in front of them and Lily stepped aside for Remus to tap his wand on the hologram, adding him to the people allowed to visit the Potter house. It had to be refreshed every month to assure maximum safety. As they walked back to the house, Lily noticed her friend had acquired a rather nasty limp.

"Full moon," he told her wryly. "I got caught a bit unawares."

Lily winced sympathetically. "Get yourself settled, I have to let the kids out of Harry's room – they're going to be so excited to see you… Then you get your lemonade."

Remus laughed as they walked through the front door together. Lily left him to wander into the sitting room while she climbed the stairs two at a time. She stopped where she knew Harry's bedroom to be, tapped the stretch of wall with a specific pattern and watched as the door materialized. Immediately, she opened the door. Harry jumped up from his desk, wand in hand while Caleb pulled Piper, who seemed to have fallen asleep beside her brother, closer to him. They relaxed when they realized their mother had arrived.

"It's okay," she said over their demands to know what had happened. "It's Remus. He tripped the wards."

"Uncle Moony's here?" Piper asked, hopping up and down excitedly.

At her mother's nod, she darted out of the room. "He needs to relax!" Lily called after her daughter before turning to the boys. "Come on down. Remus has requested lasagna for dinner and I need some helpers."

For once, neither Harry nor Caleb argued that they had other things they would rather do. They exchanged a silent look, Harry nodded, and led the way down to the kitchen. Lily raised an eyebrow as she followed them out, a sudden thought popping into her mind: _Who are they and what have they done with my sons?_

She then grinned. _These two can stay for a while, I suppose._

* * *

Unsure whether he was relieved that at least something hadn't changed between his own world and this one, Harry silently chopped up vegetables for Lily's lasagna and snuck glances over at the table at Lupin while he held Piper in his lap and told Caleb some story about being chased by a rabid boar during his most recent travels. Lupin was the only person so far who looked even remotely like himself – even Ron and Ginny had looked different to Harry in this world. Harry wondered if it was the fact that Lupin hadn't gone through the loss of his best friends that kept him looking younger and happier; it probably hadn't hurt.

Obviously, he had never taught at Hogwarts in this place – Harry had very nearly called out "Professor Lupin!" the moment he'd seen the wizard sitting half-asleep on the sofa when he'd come downstairs – but he was still just as interesting. From what Harry had gathered, Lupin had been sent on some sort of reconnaissance trip for the last three months. He wasn't openly sharing details, but Harry had the feeling that if he, Piper, and Caleb were elsewhere, the conversation wouldn't have been nearly as light as it currently was.

"So have you announced your return to anybody else?" asked Lily lightly as she set a pot to boil noodles on the stove.

Harry heard a rather mischievous edge in the woman's voice.

Lupin looked at her wearily. "Are you referring to anybody in particular?" he asked mildly.

Lily gave the wizard a wicked grin. "Maybe."

Lupin rolled his eyes. "No, I have not," he told her with a sigh. "You four are the first ones I've seen… After Dumbledore of course."

"Ow!" Harry dropped the knife he was using and stuck his bleeding finger in his mouth. The knife had slipped at the rather flippant way Lupin had thrown out Dumbledore's name. How had he not thought of the Hogwarts Headmaster at all since he'd gotten here?

"Let me see, Harry," Lily was demanding, pulling on her son's hand to show her the injury.

"Is Harry's finger gonna fall off?" Piper asked, standing on Lupin's lap and trying to see her brother's finger.

Harry couldn't make out Lupin's quiet reply.

Lily immediately tapped Harry's cut, bleeding finger with her wand. Within a moment, the wound was cleaned, closed, and gone. "Be more careful with that knife," she chided as she waved her wand again to vanish the blood that had dripped to the cutting board.

"Sorry," Harry told his mother, taking up the knife again and being much more careful. As he listened to the others in the kitchen talk amongst themselves, Harry silently wondered if there was any hope that Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard the world had ever known, would believe his current situation. Certainly, Dumbledore had to be aware of most types of magic and he was always willing to have an open ear when it was needed. Especially after the Triwizard Tournament last year…

_But that didn't happen here,_ Harry reminded himself forcefully. _This Harry might not even have any reason to go to Dumbledore for anything but whatever trouble he'd caused recently. _

"Mum, Dad's in the fire," Caleb called from the sitting room.

Lily looked at Lupin. "Could you watch the noodles so they don't stick?" she asked him.

"Of course," he said with a smile as Piper slid to the floor and sprinted to the sitting room to say hello to her father. With a groan, the wizard stood and joined Harry at the counter. "You're quiet today."

Harry smiled as he finished with the onion and moved on to cutting up a ball of fresh mozzarella cheese. "Lost in my thoughts, I suppose."

Lupin nodded understandingly. "You're birthday's coming up," he said lightly, waving his wand to stir the noodles a bit. "Sirius mentioned in his last letter your parents put a stop to the France Quidditch trip."

_Bloody hell! How long did this prat whine about that stupid Quidditch match? _"Ah, yeah," Harry said, trying to smile gamely as though he'd gone through a large loss and was still recovering from it. "It's all right, though, there are other things to do."

Lupin chuckled. "Probably nothing as fun as five nights in France with your best friends and only your godfather and father as chaperones." Harry silently shrugged. "Anyway, I picked up your birthday gift on my way back." He glanced over his shoulder to where Lily could be heard talking to James through the fireplace. "I can't give it to you in front of your mother – she'd skin me alive and use my fur as a fireplace rug – but you'll get it after your party."

Harry looked at Lupin curiously. During the time that the wizard had taught Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, Harry had gotten the distinct impression that though he had an incredible sense of humor and taste for mischief, he wasn't one to go against the word of certain people – like Dumbledore, even though Lupin himself had admitted in the Shrieking Shack that he'd kept the fact that his three best friends had become illegal Animagi secret from the Headmaster for years. Harry had just always seen his mother as one of the very few people with the ability to keep James, Sirius, and Remus under control; to hear Lupin say he wanted to give something that would apparently go against Lily's wishes was strange… and incredibly amusing.

Feeling just as comfortable with this Lupin as he had with the one in his own world, Harry had no problem asking his next question. "So where've you been all this time?" he asked very quietly, knowing somehow it wouldn't be a good idea for Lily to overhear this discussion.

Lupin seemed to feel the same. He glanced quickly over his shoulder again before replying. "You know I can't tell you that, Harry," he said at a normal volume. Harry's shoulders sagged for a moment before he caught Lupin's eye. "Ask me again sometime." This last part was whispered so quietly that Harry had to strain to hear. He looked at the wizard in surprise; Lupin only had time to wink before Lily returned to the kitchen to announce James and Sirius would be arriving just in time for dinner.

"Convenient," Lupin said to Lily, grinning. "When was the last time either of them helped you with dinner?"

Lily snorted. "When was the last time I wanted my house reduced to a pile of ash?" was her response.

* * *

Dinner that evening was by far the best Harry had experienced since his arrival. Lupin's return seemed to have filled the kitchen with a new energy that he had yet to see: James and Sirius both seemed completely overjoyed to have their best friend sitting between them; Lily had rolled her eyes so much in affection and amusement during the meal that Harry was starting to wonder if someone had jinxed her; Piper and Caleb hung on the werewolf's every word as he told stories.

"Would you believe," Lupin said, wiping up some of the spaghetti sauce with his garlic bread, "that the hag actually had the nerve to tell _me_ that werewolves don't exist?"

"What did you do?" asked Caleb eagerly, forgetting about his meal.

"He did what any sane werewolf would do," Sirius began, grinning, "he threw his head back and howled at the moon."

Remus chuckled while Caleb and Piper laughed hysterically. "Fun as that would have been, Padfoot," he said once the others could hear him again, "that is not what happened. Let's just say she was in a wee bit of shock come full moon. Since they wouldn't let me out of the inn to run around the forest, I had to lock myself in a room and left it looking as though a giant had stomped through. I wouldn't be surprised if I receive a bill for the damages before long."

Lily rolled her eyes again as she stood and started clearing the table. James almost immediately hopped up and began scooping ice cream into bowls and floating them to the table to land in front of everybody. Conversation continued to be lighthearted between the adults, though every so often, Harry thought he saw glints of anxiety in the eyes of his parents, godfather and Lupin. Every time one of these glints appeared, somebody else came up with another ridiculous story to share to keep the kids entertained. This went on until around ten o'clock when Piper fell asleep in Sirius' lap while they were in the sitting room and Lily declared it time for bed, or at least time for Harry and Caleb to go upstairs and quietly spend time in their bedrooms. Harry knew when he was being shunted off so the adults could talk amongst themselves, but judging by the way Caleb readily agreed Harry's younger brother had something up his sleeve. It wasn't until Lily had closed Piper's door and headed back downstairs that Harry could hear the younger boy tapping on his door. Caleb immediately placed a finger to his lips to silence Harry before jerking his head towards his bedroom. Curious, Harry followed.

This was the first time he'd been in Caleb's room and he found himself pleasantly surprised. While Caleb seemed to be the quiet type, preferring his books to any sort of noise-making activity, everywhere Harry looked he found little experimental things – it kind of reminded him of Fred and George Weasley's bedroom at the Burrow. There was a glob of clay on one of the shelves of the bookcase that Harry swore was breathing and… had it really just winked at him?

Caleb was digging around in a pile of what looked to be old tin cans. "Ha, knew it was here!" He backed up and showed Harry what looked to be two cans connected to one another by a very long piece of string. Harry raised his eyebrow. "Took me a month to figure out. Dad had to keep coming up to redo the silencing charm around my room because I kept making loads of noise, but luckily he didn't see what I was up to; something tells me he wouldn't exactly approve of this, regardless of some of the stuff he got up to at school…" Caleb quickly walked over to his bedroom window, threw it open and let one of the cans drop. Harry looked over the other boy's shoulder and tried to hide his surprise when the can seemed to go invisible as it snaked into the kitchen window. Closing the window on the can still in his hand, Caleb motioned for Harry to back up while they waited.

"What–" Harry began when nothing happened.

"Shh!" Caleb said loudly, his eyes darting back and forth as he tried to concentrate.

After another few minutes, what sounded like a badly tuned radio started coming through the can on the windowsill and Harry listened – he could almost imagine someone turning a dial to get better reception – until several voices came in crystal clear. Harry looked excitedly at Caleb. "That's Sirius!" he said in a loud whisper.

Caleb grinned. "I know," he replied at the same volume. "Now we can hear exactly what Remus has been up to, since Mum and Dad think we can't handle it."

"How old are you again?" Harry asked with a chuckle.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "Twelve," he said anyway.

This caught Harry rather off guard – he'd put the kid at around eight years old when he was apparently a second year. _Really small for his age_, Harry thought distantly, now listening to the voices from the cans.

* * *

The moment Lily had returned from putting Piper to bed, James had closed, locked, and cast an Imperturbable Charm on his office door as the adults got comfortable and looked at Remus expectantly. "It could have gone better," he said to his friends, letting himself look and feel exhausted for the first time all evening. "I spent about six weeks travelling through forests before realizing the reason I was following my current path was because Death Eaters were leading the way."

James and Sirius sat up straighter at this. "Do you know who?" James asked quietly.

Remus shook his head regrettably. "Wasn't for lack of trying, though," he said as the Head Auror's shoulders sagged. "Every time I was able to get close enough to where I could consider thinking about spying on them, I realized the full moon was close enough that if I didn't find safe shelter soon, I'd have been running around transformed before long."

"You had your potion?" Lily asked.

"Yes, but even the use of the Wolfsbane wouldn't have helped me out. Everybody who lives in that area is so resolved to identifying a werewolf on the prowl – whether they actually were or not – and killing it without a second thought. That's what made it so difficult. I had to give myself time to find a cave or something, barricade myself in, _then_ cast charms on whatever I'd used to block the entrance to hold strong until the moon waned." Remus sighed and ran a tired hand across his face. "And because of the potion, it concealed most of the usual side effects to the coming moon so that I start forgetting when it was coming – being so deep in trees that you can't see the sky didn't help anything either."

Sirius sat forward. "Were you able to make contact with any of the other werewolves?" he asked quietly.

"A few," Remus said rather curtly. "Like I said, the Death Eaters were always two steps ahead of me – at one point, I think they started to realize they were being followed, then realized a pattern to when I lost their trail. By the time I was able to get moving again after the moon, I had no idea where to even begin – they'd thrown me off the scent."

Lily's eyes widened a touch. "They didn't realize it was you?"

"I don't think so," Remus assured her. "If they had they would have doubled back and killed me if they'd gotten the chance."

"Reassuring, that," James said dully. "So these werewolves you met…"

Remus smiled wryly. "Ah, yes… Well, two of them were males, the other a female, and they all claimed never to have heard of Albus Dumbledore, so why would they want to waste their time with his messenger promising their safety if they don't join up with Voldemort?"

"They said Voldemort?" Sirius asked dubiously.

Remus shook his head. "No, but if you'd heard them, you would have gotten the same meaning from it. Anyway, that lot is a lost cause, unfortunately. Dumbledore thinks he's made a contact with a colony in Germany. He's going to give me the next few weeks off, then I'm gone again."

James rolled his eyes. "Remus, you don't need to keep doing this," he insisted. "There's plenty for you to do at home!"

The werewolf just raised an eyebrow at his friend. "There's nothing here that will help us win the war, James, and you know it. I don't mind it; I enjoy travelling."

Sirius opened his mouth, probably to call Remus an idiot, that the rest of them had found plenty to do in England, so he could too, but Lily stood suddenly. Her eyes were narrowed and her finger was pressed against her lips, demanding the wizards' silence.

"What?" James asked quietly as his wife sighed in annoyance and moved towards the open office window. Carefully, she reached out the window, her hand apparently trying to grasp something invisible.

"Dammit," she muttered, closing the window and turning back to the windows. "I thought you got rid of the rest of Caleb's experimental cans."

"I thought I had. Did you see one?" James asked, now looking out the window.

"I think so…"

"Experimental _cans?_" Remus asked, glancing at Sirius' silent laughter.

James nodded, his lips twitching. "Somehow, somewhere, he got the idea to attach two cans together with string – it's a Muggle thing, Lily says; kids used to use them to communicate. Anyway, Caleb got the idea and he's been working for months on charms that make the cans go invisible and float through rooms and windows, looking for conversations that aren't meant to be heard. Impressive magic, but instead of using them to spy on Harry when his friends are over, he's been using them to listen in on discussions about the Order."

"Hmm," Remus said, trying and failing to look disapproving; he was sure Lily was glaring at his impressed face.

* * *

Upstairs in Caleb's room, the younger boy cursed when he saw the can stuck in his window move – he knew it meant his mother had seen it and recognized it, and she'd tried to grab it. Luckily, he'd wrenched his end of the can back through the window and with Harry's help, was able to get the other end back rather quickly.

"She knows," Caleb groaned, stuffing the cans into a box in his closet. "This was the only pair that survived Dad's search last week and that was only because he didn't think to look under Piper's bed." His head cocked to the side for a moment and his eyes widened. "Mum's coming! Get back to your room, don't tell her what I have!"

Harry bolted and closed his bedroom door just in time to hear Lily opening Caleb's door and demanding that he hand over the cans. _Very convincing_, Harry thought with a grin as he sat on his bed, listening to Caleb very smoothly claim not to have any idea what his dear mother was referring to, that he'd been finishing his summer Charms homework.

By the time Lily had made it to Harry's room to interrogate him twenty minutes later, he'd changed his pajamas, climbed into bed, and was pretending to have fallen asleep reading a book. Harry was careful to control his facial expression as his mother removed his glasses from his face, the book from his hand, placed them both on his bedside table, and shut off the light. "Nice try," she told him quietly as she started to shut the door. "Next time I catch you two up to something like that, you're going to be waiting hand and foot on the garden gnomes for a week."

Harry couldn't help but grin and snort a laugh as his door snapped shut.

* * *

Sometime in the middle of the night, Harry felt his blankets move and weight in the bed increase. Lifting one heavy eyelid a little, he spotted Piper settling into the bed against his chest. "What're you doing?" he asked tiredly.

"I had a bad dream."

"So why didn't you go to Mum and Dad?"

She hesitated. "Can't I just sleep in here with you?"

Harry sighed. "I guess…" He scooted over a bit to give her some more room and didn't object when she pulled his arm from his side to rest over her small body. Once they were both comfortable, Harry started to fall asleep again.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"You're not gonna leave, are you?"

Harry's eyes snapped open and he propped himself up on a pillow to look at his sister. "Well, I have to go to Hogwarts soon, don't I?" Somehow, he didn't think her question would be answered so simply.

"Not to Hogwarts…" Piper sighed and tried to work out her thoughts. "I mean… _leave. _Leave and never come back."

The boy's brow furrowed. "Why would you think that?" he asked gently.

"I dreamed it."

"Well, I promise I'm not going anywhere."

"Mar'der's Honor?"

He grinned – he thought he knew what she was trying to say. "Marauder's Honor."

Apparently pacified for the moment, Piper rolled to her side and fell asleep almost immediately. Harry watched her for a few minutes, wondering if Piper had any idea how close she'd actually come to the truth. _Her_ Harry had left, hadn't he? And where had he gone? Harry winced in sympathy as he imagined this world's Harry living with the Dursleys. He fell asleep with the image of Dudley squaring off with another boy, one who looked like his cousin Harry, who also wasn't used to not getting his own way. By morning, he was convinced having magic on his side would be the only way the other Harry would survive the rest of the summer.

* * *

**AN: **Ah, the other Harry. I'm still working on how to work him in or if I even will. Thank you, guys, for the reviews. Keep it up and I'll keep trying to write a decent story!


	5. Five

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Five_

Now feeling comfortable with every member of the Potter household, Harry was finding himself relaxing more and more as the weekend approached. Discovering that his brother Caleb was not only Hogwarts age but also an apparent pranking genius seemed to have broken some sort of invisible barrier between the two boys, and since the night they listened in on the conversation between the adults concerning Lupin's liaising with werewolves in other countries, Harry had been very curious to find out what other experiments the younger boy had been working on.

"This one," Caleb told Harry as he pointed out a of normal-looking deck of cards, "is my favorite. I haven't quite perfected them; I need to check some stuff in the Hogwarts library when we go back to school…"

"What do they do?" Harry asked, picking up the top card off the deck.

Caleb grabbed another card and stood beside his brother. "Well, right now, not much. But eventually, I want them to act something like two-way mirrors that nobody will really think anything of. The idea is that you can leave card sitting somewhere where they seem completely inconspicuous, then take the other card to somewhere private and activate both of them, and you can watch whatever happens to be going on in the room where you left the other card, without anyone realizing they're being spied on."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do you all your experiments include eavesdropping on things you shouldn't know about?"

Caleb grinned. "Not all of them, no," he replied. "But you have to admit they're dead useful."

The older boy nodded in agreement. "What's that one?" he asked, crossing the room to examine what looked like a simple cotton ball on the windowsill.

"You don't want to touch that!" Caleb quickly snatched Harry's hand before it was able to touch the seemingly harmless object. "That's something I've been referring to as an experiment gone very, _very_ wrong." He knelt down to look at it a bit more closely, though he maintained a safe distance. "I'm not even certain where I went wrong with it – it was one of my first experiments – but instead of being charmed to clean up any liquid mess, no matter its size, it sort of… er, _mutated._"

"Mutated into what?" Harry asked warily – this sounded like something Hagrid would do.

"Well, I'm not sure," Caleb said seriously. "But it moves on its own accord and has the ability to bite off your entire hand in one go if you let it. I think it might have gotten down to Mum's potion lab somehow and sucked up one of her spilled potions, but of course if I went to Mum to ask her what was on the floor down there, she'd start asking more questions that I don't really want to answer."

As the two boys watched the cotton ball, a housefly began buzzing just above it, circling it for a moment, before what looked to be a long, white, cottony tongue shot up several inches, wrapped around the fly, and brought it back to what Harry assumed was its mouth. There were a few chomping noises before the cotton ball gave a loud burp and calmly settled on the windowsill again.

"I call him Ralph," Caleb said to Harry, his lips twitching as he tried to persuade the mutated cotton ball into a small tin box with a metal stick. "I can only let him out when I'm up here with him; I'm pretty sure he ate Piper's hamster last year, but I'm a little too afraid to attempt to destroy him until I know a bit more of what he is."

"I can see why," Harry said dryly as Ralph nearly took off Caleb's finger as the boy closed the box's lid, then pulled a rubber band over it to keep the thing inside from getting out. Caleb placed the box on his bookshelf and the two of them watched as Ralph struggled to get loose, causing the tin box to dance around on the shelf. Eventually Ralph settled down and the boys could hear light, muffled snores.

"Caleb, Harry! Lunch!" called their father's voice.

Harry stood and started out of the room before his brother's hand grabbed his arm to hold him back. He turned to look at the smaller boy questioningly and found Caleb had a strange look on his face. "What?" Harry asked.

Caleb hesitated. "Why are you being so nice to me lately?" he blurted out.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Can't a guy be nice to his brother once in a while without getting the third degree?"

"But you've _never_ been interested in my experiments," Caleb said with an edge of suspicion. "Two weeks ago, you threatened to flush them all down the toilet because I drank the last butterbeer and you wanted it."

Harry's brow furrowed and he inwardly sighed. "Well, maybe I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. Are you really complaining about it?"

Caleb stared at him for a few moments as though searching for traces that Harry was lying. "No, I guess not," he finally said, letting go of his brother's arm.

"Okay then," Harry said, again turning to leave the room.

As they ate their bacon sandwiches, Harry thought over what Caleb had said. This world's Harry seemed like a total prat and treated everyone around him like they were something nasty on the bottom of his shoe. The only exceptions seemed to be Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Piper. He found himself becoming rather angry with the other Harry; didn't he realize how great he had life? He had a family who loved him, he seemed to get nearly everything he asked for, and yet all he could do was whine and complain that he wasn't allowed to go to France from some stupid Quidditch match. There didn't seem to be anything suggesting that Lord Voldemort wanted nothing more than to hunt him down and end his life. He took everything and everyone around him for granted, something the visiting Harry had learned was the last thing a person should do.

"Alright, listen up," Lily said as James cleared the lunch dishes. "Your father and I are going out this afternoon and we'll probably be gone until tomorrow evening. Remus will be here around dinnertime to keep an eye on you, but for the time being, Harry is in charge. You three will be on your best behavior; if you're not, I can assure you we've come up with a few very creative punishments that will result in your embarrassment when we show the photos to your friends."

"Until Remus gets here," James continued, "nobody leaves the backyard, you're not to invite any friends over, and don't fight with each other."

"Do not use your sister as a test subject," Lily said sternly to Caleb. The boy smiled guiltily. "We know how much hair is on her head, how many nails she has on her fingers and toes, what color her tongue is, and if those things, or anything else about her, is different when we get home, you'd better hope we don't find you."

"Your sister is not a bludger," James said just as sternly to Harry. "I don't care that you think she likes it and I don't care that nobody is actually hitting her with a beater's bat, it's wrong on so many levels."

"Are we clear?" Lily asked the boys.

Trying to control their twitching lips, not trusting themselves enough not to laugh if they opened their mouths to reply, Harry and Caleb both nodded silently. "So, er," Caleb began, trying to sound uncaring, "where are you two going?"

James snorted a laugh. "Yeah, like we're going to tell you," he teased. "You really think we want you three chasing us down to ask where your spare socks are?"

Caleb rolled his eyes. "I was just curious," he mumbled.

"Uh huh," James replied skeptically. "And I'm the Queen of England."

"Your highness, would you mind loading our bags into the car please?" Lily asked, grinning. "We need to be going soon."

"Make the village idiots do it," he replied, grinning at his sons. Caleb replied by sticking his tongue out at his father. "Careful, I know a jinx that'll keep your tongue like that for the rest of your life."

Still laughing as James explained exactly how the jinx worked – Harry had the feeling he was making the whole thing up as he went – the Potter parents loaded two medium-sized red suitcases into the boot of their car and gave last minute instructions to their children. Most of these instructions were promises of severe punishment for doing things that they knew better than to do during their parents' absence.

"Don't you trust us at all?" Harry heard himself ask as he hugged his mother. He inwardly smiled as she placed a kiss on his forehead, right where his lightning bolt scar should have been.

"No," James said bluntly before he got into the driver's seat. "We've met you, remember?"

Harry and Caleb rolled their eyes at one another before the older boy picked up Piper to keep her from chasing the car through the trees. Harry noticed immediately that the narrow walking path that led to the main road of the town seemed to widen as the car drove through.

"What do you want to do now?" Caleb asked as they went back into the house.

Something in his voice told Harry how eager he was to take advantage of his older brother wanting to spend time with him while it lasted. "I wanna play hide'n'seek," Piper announced when Harry placed her on the floor again.

Caleb groaned. "Why, so you can go hide in a laundry hamper and show you're a better hider than we are?"

"I agree with Piper," Harry said, grinning at the glare on his brother's face. Before Caleb could retort, Harry took off up the stairs and a moment later, Piper yelped as she realized they'd started playing.

Caleb yelled something that Harry was certain he never would have dared to say if James or Lily had still been there, but began slowly counting to fifty nonetheless. Harry yanked open a door that led to the attic and headed up the stairs, somehow knowing which parts of the steps to avoid to keep his destination quiet. He looked around the room at the dozens of boxes and finally decided to take cover behind clothing rack where the children's winter coats hung until they were needed. While he waited for Caleb to find him, Harry sat down against the wall and had a good look around.

Very suddenly, a strange pain erupted in his head. It wasn't even comparable to what he felt when Lord Voldemort projected feelings and scenes to him; it was much worse. There was a heavy weight on his brain, like somebody placed their palm over it and was pressing down to squash it like a bug. White stars were erupting in his eyes and Harry was sure he was screaming, even though he seemed to be biting on his tongue hard enough to make it bleed. And then images appeared in his mind: a three-year-old version of himself trying to look over the edge of a bassinette to have a look at his new brother; his father pulling him onto a broomstick and flying through the air; his mother with her arm around him in his small bed as she read a story to him; his eleven-year-old self striding confidently through a group of new first years for Professor McGonagall to place the Sorting Hat on his head; him laughing with a group of people in a corridor and pointing at a girl whose schoolbag had torn, causing all her books, quills, and parchment rolls to fall to the floor – other students were walking past and kicking the things out of the girl's reach; him holding hands with some faceless girl; chasing the quaffle through the air.

The pain subsided just as quickly as it had come and after several deep, calming breaths, Harry realized that the things he was seeing were memories of this world's version of him. These new images felt like a blanket that covered the memories from his old life; they were still there, just pushed way back. He looked around as he heard two muffled voices down in the hallway – Caleb and Piper, he recalled, looking for him while they played hide and seek. They passed right by the attic door, leaving Harry to recuperate from whatever had just happened to him.

_What the hell caused that?_ he wondered, his palms pressing against his eyes. _And what does it mean? Why am I getting his memories? _

Feeling more confused than he had in nearly a week, Harry stood shakily on his legs, fully intending to crawl into his bed to think this whole thing through. Stumbling down the stairs, he ignored the triumphant look on Caleb's face when he pulled open the door and stated that he won and Harry was now _it_. He further ignored his siblings' calls of where was he going and wasn't he still playing. He closed his bedroom door, locked it, crossed to the window, and pulled the curtains shut – he'd learned that they had been charmed to block out all light when they were shut during daytime – then collapsed on his bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

He woke several hours later feeling dazed and confused. There was a dull, pounding ache in his head and he immediately headed to the bathroom to retrieve a vile of headache potion. Within seconds, the pain was gone and Harry could think clearly. But at the moment, he preferred _not_ to think. He knew he wasn't going to get the answers he needed on his own and certainly not when he stressed about them. As he wandered down the stairs, he heard three voices in the kitchen – Caleb, Piper, and Lupin.

"There you are," Lupin said when he spotted Harry lingering in the doorframe. "Are you feeling all right? Caleb said you looked like you were going to be sick…"

Harry glanced at his brother's nervous face and forced a smile. "I'm okay. Just had a headache," he told them. "Do I smell pizza?"

Nodding slowly, still studying him, Lupin opened up one of the two boxes on the kitchen table. "Pepperoni and mushroom, right?" he asked Harry.

The boy nodded and sat at the table where Lupin dropped two hot slices of pizza onto a plate for him. The four of them ate mostly in silence, Harry avoiding the curious eyes of both Lupin and Caleb as they snuck glances at him, then moved into the sitting room where Piper demanded that the three males watch a video with her. Hardly paying attention to the plot of the movie – something about a mermaid that makes a wish to be human – Harry stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out what had happened to him earlier that day.

_I've been getting little flashes of memories all week, but this was a flood,_ he thought. _It's almost like my brain was rearranging itself to make room for all the new stuff. _

_You know, you still haven't figured out how all this happened in the first place. If there was one house in all the world that would be the least likely to have a magical portal in its walls, it's Number Four, Privet Drive. So you have to ask yourself whether you were simply in the right place at the right time or if you did something to cause this._

_Okay, self,_ Harry thought dryly. _Any theories?_

His mind seemed to stick its tongue out at him. _Very funny. Now, think about this rationally. This place is very real and so is the place you've come from, so the likeliness that this is all some very involved vision or dream isn't high. The only magic cast within the halls of the Dursley home has been relatively minor – blowing up Aunt Marge; Mr. Weasley blasting away the electric fire blocking his and his sons' way into the sitting room – and you've barely touched your wand all summer. Obviously, you've never heard of anything like this in your life so the chances of consciously making this happen are also unlikely. Which leaves one option: Right Place, Right Time. As for the cause… You may never know._

Harry reentered reality just in time for the movie credits to scroll across the screen. He looked around. Caleb was fast asleep on the sofa, Piper on the floor in front of the television, and Lupin seemed to wake from his own nap. "Bedtime for them, I think," he said to Harry as he stood and turned off the television. "I'll take Caleb if you get Piper."

Harry nodded and carefully picked up his little sister, surprised that she still slept as he carried her upstairs into her room. "I think I'm heading to bed too," Harry said with a huge yawn.

Lupin chuckled. "All right, good night."

Harry waved before he closed his bedroom door. Finding himself unable to sleep right now, Harry looked around the bedroom and found an old photo album. He sat cross-legged on his bed and slowly moved through the different pictures ranging from Lily and James' wedding to what looked to be one of Harry's birthday parties – the Harry in the photo had a huge grin on his face and an arm around Seamus Finnigan as they posed for the camera.

_Definitely a prat_, Harry said, shaking his head at the holier-than-thou look on his other self's face.

As he turned the page, he heard a knock on the front door and looked up from the photo. He could hear Lupin's low voice greet somebody before inviting them in and closing the door. Harry decided he was suddenly very thirsty and needed a glass of water from the kitchen tap. Quietly as possible, he went down the stairs and into the kitchen where he indeed filled a glass with water to justify his wandering around the house – _it's not eavesdropping if you just happen to be in a room and just happen to hear a conversation. _His brow furrowed as he drank deeply from the glass and heard a voice that belonged to a woman in the sitting room. He grinned. Lupin seemed to have a girlfriend…

Rinsing his glass and placing it on the drain board next to the sink, Harry tiptoed to the edge of the kitchen and slowly peeked around the doorframe that led to the sitting room, wishing they would talk just a bit louder so he could make sense out of their din of murmurs. Unable to contain his curiosity any further, Harry popped his head around the corner. Lupin was sitting on the couch, next to a woman his own age whose face nearly made Harry shout a name. He managed to stop himself from emitting more than a yelp, but the damage was done. Lupin and the woman both sat up and looked around, and Lupin sighed when he spotted Harry, then to the boy's embarrassment, beckoned him into the room.

"I should have known you wouldn't be asleep," he said. "This is Helen Snowe, Harry, a friend of mine." He emphasized the word "friend," though Harry had a feeling he wanted Ms. Snowe to be more than that, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"Pleased to meet you," Harry said, holding out his hand. "You look a bit like my--I mean, like someone I know from school." Silently, he congratulated himself on remembering that the person Ms. Snowe reminded him of might not be his friend around here.

"Someone you know from school?" Ms. Snowe repeated. "You mean my niece, Hermione?"

"Yeah, that's her. Hermione Granger." Harry smiled fondly, thinking of the good times he'd always had with his bookish friend, even if they had ended up in the library more often than he felt was really necessary.

"I'm glad to meet you," said Ms. Snowe softly. "I've always wondered what the boy would look like who'd ask a girl he barely knew who died and made her queen of the world, and call her a stuck-up little Muggleborn swot. Now I know." She got to her feet and started out of the room. "I can find my own way to the door," she said over her shoulder, forestalling Lupin, who'd started to rise. "Good night."

It took a moment or two for Harry to really understand what the woman had just said – what she said _he_ had said to Hermione. His horror of the situation had him running up the stairs into the sanctuary of his bedroom before Lupin had even been able to realize he'd gone. Faintly, he could hear the wizard calling for the woman for a few moments before the front door slammed and heavy footsteps could now be heard coming up the stairs, directly towards Harry's bedroom.

In his own world, the only time he'd seen the werewolf angry had been when Snape had confiscated the Marauder's Map and Lupin had made him realize how stupid he'd been to have held onto it during such a dangerous time. But the look on the man's face as he opened Harry's door was _nothing_ compared to that.

Harry waited for Lupin to scream at him, call him names, something besides just stare at him. "Stuck-up little Muggleborn _swot_?" he asked in a deathly quiet voice, closing the bedroom door softly. Harry wouldn't be surprised to find the wizard had cast a silencing charm on the room as well. "You know, Harry, I'd have thought that you of all people with the mother you have would be the last person to insult anybody, let alone Muggleborns. I've met Helen's niece; she's an exceptional young woman–"

"I know that!" Harry suddenly cried out, unable to pinpoint the moment when his vision had gone all blurry. "Hermione's brilliant and funny… She's one of the best friends I've ever had. The first one to tell me when I'm being an idiot. I would never say those things to Hermione – well, I might ask whose died and made her queen of the world _about _her, but never to her face!"

Lupin' brow furrowed. "One of your best friends?" he repeated suspiciously. "The idea I just got was that you make an effort to make this girl's life miserable."

Harry froze, a strange warm feeling washing over his body from his head to his toes. He'd slipped up. Badly. He looked up at Lupin who was still regarding him curiously. _I can trust him, right?_

_Yeah, until Lily and James come home and he tells them not only what you said about Hermione but that you claim to be from some parallel universe. Book a bed in St. Mungo's and pack a bag, Potter! You're going to be there for a while… _

Harry didn't even question what St. Mungo's was.

"Harry?" Lupin asked. He'd crossed the room and sat down across from the boy at the desk chair. "Are you all right?"

Harry let out a shaky sigh. "I'm fine," he said miserably. "I just… I don't know. I haven't really felt like myself lately."

Lupin's anger seemed to ebb away immediately. "James has mentioned you've been acting a little oddly," he said thoughtfully. "Do you want to talk about it?"

An offer like that was nearly too good to pass up. Just as he had on the first night here when he was in the kitchen with James in the middle of the night, Harry opened his mouth to tell Lupin everything that had happened, but his mouth snapped shut and he shook his head. "No, I'll be alright."

Now looking concerned, Lupin nodded reluctantly. "Would you like a dreamless sleeping draught?" he asked gently.

"Please," Harry said distantly, staring at his feet. The wizard stood immediately and left the room, leaving Harry to work through his thoughts again. One of the memories that had forced itself into Harry's mind that afternoon was taking shape and becoming clearer – the girl whose bag had ripped open in the corridor and who had struggled to gather all her things while a group of boys laughed at her was Hermione Granger. How could Harry have ever treated her like that? That was something Draco Malfoy would have done! Running a hand through his hair in frustration, Harry flopped down on the bed. Lupin returned moments later carrying a glass filled to the brim with an orangish liquid.

"Drink it all," advised Lupin.

Harry did and already felt himself growing drowsy. Lupin helped him into bed and took off his glasses before covering him with a blanket. "M'sorry you're friend left, Remus," Harry said thickly as he rolled onto his side.

Lupin winced. "Ah, yeah," he sighed. "That'll take a bit of damage control, I expect."

"Can I help?"

Before his eyes closed, Harry saw a rather surprised look on the werewolf's face.

"I'm sure I can think of some way you can help if you really want," Lupin said slowly. Moments later, Harry heard the wizard murmur good night to him and softly shut his bedroom door.

* * *

**AN: **First things first: the idea of Helen Snowe and the scene where she speaks to Harry was written not by myself but by my favorite author on this website, whydoyouneedtoknow, aka Anne. Thank you again, Anne, for allowing me to use this scene! It seriously helps! I bow to your greatness.

Secondly, an opinion poll: As I stated last chapter, I'm still unsure what I'm going to do with the "other Harry". A few people have given their opinions, so I thought I would give the rest of you a chance to throw in your two cents as well. So, do you think I should include what the other Harry is doing and where he's gone, or do you think I should just leave it to your imaginations and concentrate solely on this Harry? I've got ideas both ways, but I wanted to see what my readers thought before I went ahead and made an executive decision.

As always, thank you very much for all your reviews and support! Keep them coming, and don't forget to vote! ;-)


	6. Six

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Six_

Harry woke very suddenly on Sunday. It took him a few minutes to remember why he felt so groggy, then he recalled the evening before. _Right, Remus gave me a sleeping draught because he thought I was going out of my bloody mind. _

_Maybe I am…_

With a sigh, Harry rolled over, shoved his glasses on his face, and started down the stairs, finding it oddly quiet for a Sunday. A clock on the wall in the downstairs hallway informed Harry that he'd slept through breakfast and possibly lunch as well. As he entered the kitchen where Remus was reading the newspaper, he let out a rather loud yawn and ruffled his hair. This caused Remus to chuckle.

"What?" the boy asked cluelessly as he pulled out a few slices of cold pizza.

Remus shook his head, his eyes sparkling in amusement. "Nothing," he said, still sniggering. "I just never ceases to amaze just how much like your father you've become."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Harry mumbled.

"Not necessarily." Remus studied him a moment, hesitating. "Harry, I have to ask you something, and I need you to be completely honest with me."

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "If I can," he said rather stiffly.

The werewolf's eyebrows rose. "Well, I need to ask you about something you said last night while we were talking in your room, about Hermione Granger."

"What about her?" Harry asked softly, his mind working quickly to figure out what to say.

"You said she was one of your best friends. And something about that doesn't quite add up in my mind. I've never heard you mention her and I'm sure if I asked your parents, they would say the same. Now, everyone has noticed your behavior lately and as welcome as this newfound maturity is, it seems to have come out of nowhere, and I want you to tell me what's been going on with you." Remus rested his hands on the kitchen table and watched Harry expectantly.

He didn't see any way out of this. If he refused to tell Remus anything, the wizard would surely go to Lily and James and _they_ would get it out of him one way or another. But if he told Remus everything as he'd wanted to last night, he'd be seen as mental and he'd be locked up in a padded room somewhere for the rest of his life. His mouth was dry as he reached his decision and he met Remus' blue eyes directly. There was nothing judging in that look, only concern and a willingness to hear him out.

_At least until I've finished speaking…_

Harry took a deep breath. "Okay," he said quietly. "Here's what happened–"

The backdoor flew open and two small bodies entered. Harry groaned in annoyance while Lupin gave him an apologetic look before standing and looking at the two youngest Potter children. "We're hungry, Uncle Moony," Piper announced, climbing into a chair looking windswept. "Caleb took me to his tree fort."

"I didn't know you had a tree fort," Remus said to Caleb. He threw a look to Harry and mouthed '_later'. _Harry nodded and the wizard winked before going to make lunch for them. Caleb began going on and on about his tree fort that James had helped him build and as they ate their lunches, further distraction came through the front door in the form of Sirius Black.

For once, the excitement Harry's godfather caused by merely arriving at the Potter home was cut short as Sirius pulled Remus aside for a few moments of private conversation. "Wish I had those cards now," Caleb murmured, trying to get close enough to the sitting room door so he could hear what the adults were talking about. When he heard the wizards returning to the kitchen he seemed to fly back into his chair, but not without tripping over a leg of Piper's chair, and it would have been too easy for Sirius and Remus not to notice how out of breath he seemed to be as he cursed his now-aching foot.

Remus merely raised an eyebrow at him. "It's nothing you need to worry about," he said dryly while Sirius rolled his eyes and dug through the fridge for his own lunch. "Your parents have just decided to stay where they are for another night – they're fine!" he added quickly when Caleb's face paled and his eyes widened in fear. "They've just cited a need to have a holiday while they can."

"And with three nosy gits like you," Sirius said, grinning as he sat at the table with what was left of one of the pizzas, "I can see why."

Though both Sirius and Remus seemed to have put an effort into assuring the three children that they're parents were indeed okay and there was no reason to worry, Harry glanced at Sirius as he cleared the lunch dishes and was certain he saw a hint of anxiety in the wizard's gray eyes.

After lunch, Caleb and Piper were eager to go back outside and they dragged Sirius along with them. "Coming, Harry?" the wizard asked as the small girl put all her effort into pulling on Sirius' hand.

Harry made to stand and follow them, but Remus spoke first. "Actually, I was going to help Harry with his Potions homework, unless of course you'd like to do it, Padfoot."

Sirius made a face like he'd been sucking on a lemon. "No, thanks, see you in a bit." He reached down to keep Piper from falling to the ground when he started moving again.

Remus silently made two cups of tea, placed them on a tray along with a plate of biscuits, and gestured for Harry to follow him down the hall into James' office. "It's difficult enough to keep a conversation private with Caleb around, but with Sirius' help, everyone will know your business within minutes." He shut the windows in the room and cast silencing charms on the walls and door while Harry sat down in an armchair in the corner. Remus joined him a moment later. "So you were saying?" the wizard prompted.

Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he stared at his teacup. "I'm not who you think I am," he said slowly and carefully.

He chanced a glance at Remus to find his face completely impassive, though Harry could see his fingers instinctively twitching closer to the wand hidden in his jeans. "Who are you?" Remus asked evenly.

"Well, it's kind of complicated…" _Understatement of the century, that_, snorted his mind. "I am Harry Potter, but not the Harry Potter you know." Remus was merely staring at him; Harry inwardly sighed. This would be so much easier if he knew whether Remus believed him or not. "Put it this way, where I'm from, I never met you until my third year at Hogwarts."

Finally, a reaction: One of Remus' eyebrows crept up his forehead. "You have my attention."

Harry opened his mouth, unsure what was going to come out, and before he could control it, he was telling the wizard in front of him everything. It was liberating, a heavy weight was lifted off his shoulders as he spoke about being locked into the cupboard under the stairs by his idiot cousin Dudley, how he'd spent the entire day there, then at night, discovered that some sort of portal had appeared in the wall. How, though he knew how stupid it was to put your hand into some unknown substance, he'd stuck his hand through the part-liquid, part-solid hole and he'd been forcefully pulled through. When he stopped speaking, he was completely out breath and drank his cold tea in two large gulps while he waited for Remus' response.

"Well, I can honestly say," Remus said very slowly, "that I was not expecting this." Harry couldn't help but crack a grin; Remus even managed to give one back, though it faded almost immediately. "There aren't any legitimate cases of parallel universes or people being sucked into another person's world – it's all theory, one that's laughed at by rational minds in the wizarding world. But from what you're telling me, it certainly stands to reason that you're speaking the truth. Even our Harry wouldn't sit down and come up with something this farfetched just for a laugh."

Harry blinked. It can't be that easy… Could it? "So, er, you believe me, then?" he asked hopefully.

Remus met his eyes and studied him for a few moments. Harry was getting a feeling that he'd only ever gotten from Albus Dumbledore: it felt as though Remus was trying to see into his soul, deciding whether or not to believe what he was being told. "Yes, I think I do," he finally said. "But I have to ask… If you're here, where's our Harry?"

The boy shrugged. "I don't know," he said honestly. "If he's lucky, he's in some sort of limbo rather than living with the Dursleys. I had fourteen years of experience to tell me what I could get away with. If he really is what everyone here says he is, he's a dead man."

Lupin chuckled. "Well, if that is where he is, maybe he'll finally get a sense that the world doesn't revolve around him." His humor faded again. "So why, in your world, are you living with Lily's sister and her husband?"

* * *

Nearly two hours later, Remus Lupin's mind was reeling. Harry had told him everything about his life in his own world and Remus hadn't known what to say about it. Lily and James dead, betrayed at the hands of a friend. Their only son shunted away from the wizarding world into the neglectful arms of his only living relatives. Sirius in Azkaban for something he hadn't done and would never have even considered doing. And the things that Harry himself had gone through during his first four years at Hogwarts… Remus couldn't imagine himself handling some of that even as an adult.

Harry had explained the subtle differences between the two worlds and Remus suddenly understood the change in behavior he and Harry's parents had noticed over the last week. Their Harry had been rather spoiled during his life – whatever James claimed, Harry was his favorite child, firstborn and almost a carbon copy of himself, which included James' pompous attitude at times. He was deeply loved by his parents and he felt the same for them, but when he was surrounded by his friends and no adults, he seemed to morph into another personality. Remus had caught a few instances when Harry's mouth had gotten him into trouble and while he'd sometimes longed to wring Harry's neck until he wizened up, it hadn't been his place. In fact, when dealing with Harry, Remus had often found himself reverting back to his old if-I-ignore-it-it-will-stop attitude during his Hogwarts years when it came to James' and Sirius' immature and sometimes cruel behavior towards some of their fellow classmates. James' view on his son's behavior had simply been "it's a stage, he'll grow out of it," while Lily had taken a more stern approach. Unfortunately, most of Harry's misdeeds occurred at Hogwarts, without his mother's knowledge, so Harry felt as though what he did there didn't really count at home.

"He could be the sweetest boy in the world when he wanted to be," Remus told Harry while they talked in James' office. "Helpful, loving, funny. But if he really wanted something and didn't get his way…" Remus could only shrug.

"Like the Quidditch match in France?" Harry asked wryly.

Remus chuckled. "Exactly. From what I hear, he was giving everybody the cold shoulder for a week. See, Lily and James had promised for months that on his fifteenth birthday he could take this trip. The reason they retracted the promise was because of an attack that happened in that area – it caused the death of several Muggles, and even though James and Sirius were accompanying Harry and his friends, Lily didn't think it was safe."

"And he didn't understand that?" Harry asked, his eyebrows high. Remus shook his head. "Idiot."

"It was a big letdown for him," Remus said fairly. "Certainly, he didn't have to go to the extent that he did, but he's learned that if he throws a tantrum or gives certain people the cold shoulder, he gets his way, mostly with James."

Harry sighed and dropped that subject for the moment. Remus watched as he looked around the office for a few moments before he nervously spoke again, "Listen, you won't tell my mum and dad about this, will you? I just think they've got enough on their minds without worrying about this too."

Remus hesitated. "I agree with you to a point," he said slowly. "They will have to know at some point; I think Lily's already realized something is up. But I'll make you a deal: until we find something to actually tell them without turning their hair gray within seconds, you have my word that this is our secret."

"And?" Harry asked expectantly.

"And what?"

"Well, usually when you make a deal with somebody it includes them doing something for you…"

Remus chuckled again. "I'm sure I'll come up with something…" he said in a mysterious tone that made Harry a little nervous.

"I have an idea," Harry said, grinning suddenly.

Now Remus was the one who looked nervous.

* * *

"I really don't think this is the best idea," Remus hissed that evening as he and Harry walked up the driveway of a normal-looking home in Cornwall.

"Well, I do," Harry replied lightly. "You get something you want, and I have a chance to make amends at the same time."

They'd left Sirius in charge of Caleb and Piper for a few hours and Remus had rather reluctantly driven the two of them to the home of Helen Snowe, Hermione Granger's aunt. Harry's stated reasoning for their outing was that he felt bad about ruining Remus' date the other night – at which point, Remus had stuttered and stammered that it hadn't been a date, but Harry didn't miss the blush on the wizard's face. He was also hoping to get a glimpse of Hermione; Remus had mentioned during their drive that she was staying with her aunt for the summer. Harry wasn't sure what would happen in this world if he tried to make friends with a girl his other self had so thoroughly mistreated, but he wanted to try nonetheless.

_I'll tell you exactly what'll happen,_ said the voice in his mind that had been making little comments all week. _The very gates of Hell will open, a blizzard will run through, demons will be ice skating, and pigs will fly._

_Shut up,_ Harry shot back. His mind made an ugly face at him, but didn't comment again.

They stood at the front door now. Harry looked expectantly at Remus for him to knock, but when the wizard just stared at the door as though he expected it to open up and swallow him, Harry rolled his eyes and rang the bell. Almost immediately, they heard footsteps approaching and the door opened. Helen Snowe stood there, a smile on her face, though it slipped away when she realized who'd come calling.

"Remus," she said in obvious surprise. Harry thought he heard a bit of relief in her voice as well. "What are you doing here?"

Remus managed to smile beneath the woman's slightly annoyed but puzzled gaze. Harry knew the look on Ms. Snowe's face – he'd seen it on Hermione's several times and now he knew where she'd gotten it. "Er, well, Helen, Harry had something he wanted to say to you…"

Harry refrained from giving the wizard a look of exasperation; he settled for meeting the woman's brown eyes steadily. "Right," he said, playing the part of an ashamed boy very well. _Well, I am ashamed, aren't I? _"I wanted to apologize for what I've said about your niece. It was incredibly uncalled for and you have no idea how sorry I am."

Ms. Snowe merely raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, it's not my forgiveness you need, is it?" she said evenly. "Hermione is in the kitchen if you want to speak with her." She pointed down the hall.

Harry thanked her and entered the house, pretending not to hear Remus' own apologies to the woman. He reached the kitchen and looked around, locating Hermione immediately. She sat at the table completely engrossed in a book Harry suspected was _Hogwarts: A History. _"Er, hi," he said lamely.

Hermione started rather comically and looked around for the voice. The look on her face made Harry want to turn tail and run away – extreme dislike, suspicion, and distrust were very clearly evident. "What are you doing here?" she blurted out.

Taking a few tentative steps forward, he tried to smile. "I was hoping I could talk to you a moment?"

"About?"

"Er, well, I wanted to apologize," Harry stammered. "You know, for how I've treated you over the last four years. I wanted to see if there was a way I could make it up to you."

Narrowing her eyes, Hermione gave a short nod, resignedly gesturing for him to sit. "Is this another one of your jokes?" she demanded. "I was under the impression I got a break from that during summer holidays."

"It's not a joke," Harry said. "I've been horrible to you and I feel bad about it."

"Why now?"

Harry gulped. "Well, let's just say I woke up last week a new man," he responded, inwardly congratulating himself on the pun. Hermione didn't laugh; he sighed and tried again. "Your aunt was at my house last night visiting my father's friend Remus and she made me realize what a prat I've been."

Hermione's eyes darted to the hallway where Harry knew Remus to be standing with Ms. Snowe. "Good to know you've finally seen yourself for what everyone else knows you are," Hermione said shortly. "Is there anything else?"

"My birthday's next week," Harry said suddenly, ignoring his mind's voice groaning loudly. "I was wondering if you might like to come to the party?"

"You want _me_ to come to _your _birthday party?" Hermione repeated skeptically.

Harry nodded fervently. "Very much, actually."

"Why, so you can make a fool of me in front of your friends?" the girl shot back. "I get enough of that at school, thanks."

Harry's heart sank. "It's not like that," he insisted. "I swear, no one's going to make a fool of you!"

"Yeah," Hermione said with a short laugh. "That's what you said second year when you asked me to meet you at the Astronomy Tower, then had Seamus dump dirty water all over me during the middle of January. Sorry, Harry, I'm not falling for it this time. Now if you don't mind, I'm reading. Please leave."

Harry watched her a moment before realizing she had once again sunk into her reading. With a heavy sigh, he got up to leave. "I am sorry, you know," he muttered before he left to the kitchen.

* * *

"At least you tried," Remus said encouragingly on the drive back home. He seemed much happier when they'd left Ms. Snowe's house – Harry assumed she had forgiven the wizard for Harry's behavior towards her niece. "With the damage done, there's only so much you'll be able to do. You'll just have to be patient."

"I don't like being patient," Harry replied.

Remus smirked. "Well, that's something you have in common with our Harry," he retorted.

Harry glared at him. He was quiet the rest of the ride as he tried to think of ways to make Hermione believe what he'd been trying to say. _Dumping cold water on her in the middle of winter at the top of the Astronomy Tower,_ he thought wryly. _Really?_

_She deserved it,_ his mind shot back. _She dumped ink all over my Charms homework that I'd been working on for a week and when she tried to fix it, she erased everything I'd written. Flitwick gave me a bloody zero!_

_At least she tried to fix it. And I know she didn't do it on purpose; Hermione's not exactly malicious by nature._

His mind disagreed severely, but Harry pushed it away. He'd have to think hard on this one. Somehow, Hermione Granger would be his best friend again.

* * *

**AN:** Okay, so not really a whole lot in this chapter, but at least Harry finally told someone what's going on. The masses have spoken - we will not be visiting the "other" Harry wherever he may be hiding out. Thanks to everyone who gave their opinions. Lastly, here's something I haven't done since I was writing _Resolutions_: Review Replies! Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing the story, you have no idea what it means to me to know I've finally written something after so much time that people seem to like... Take care. Chapter Seven coming, maybe not tomorrow, but soon!

(p.s. I got a reminder the other evening as to why I stopped doing review replies _in _the chapter. So I had to delete them to keep from having my entire account deleted. Sorry!)


	7. Seven

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Seven_

The evening of his failure of a conversation with Hermione Granger, Harry sat in his bedroom working on a Charms essay his other self hadn't quite finished. He'd figured since he didn't know how long he be here and he may be going to Hogwarts in this universe, there was no reason to receive detentions on the first day back.

_Though if I do manage to get back,_ Harry thought rather maliciously as he scanned a page in his textbook to answer a question, _I can always set fire to whatever I've done. He'd deserve it._

_That's cold,_ his mind responded. Harry thought he heard tinges of approval and amusement in there somewhere.

As he finished the last paragraph and blew on the ink to dry it before he rolled up the parchment, there was a knock on his bedroom door. "Come in," he called softly. Caleb and Piper had gone to sleep hours ago.

Remus' head popped through the partially open door. "Just wanted to see if you needed anything," he said with a smile.

Harry returned it as he tossed his Charms textbook into his open trunk beside his desk. "I'm good, just finishing some homework," he said, waving the roll of parchment around as evidence.

The wizard chuckled and entered fully. "For all his attitude, our Harry's marks are quite impressive," he said rather proudly. "Outstandings in most of his lessons, though we think the only reason he's getting nothing above an Exceeds Expectations in Potions is because the teacher is holding a grudge, and he's only _passing_ because the Headmaster won't let said teacher fail a student for such a ridiculous reason."

Harry made a face. "Snape?" he asked reluctantly.

"Afraid so," Remus said gravely, though his eyes were dancing merrily. "I take it you haven't had much luck with him either."

"You could say that."

Remus gave him a sympathetic look as he slowly crossed the room to sit at Harry's desk – it seemed almost as though he wasn't sure if the boy wanted him there. Harry tried to smile to make him feel welcome. "If it makes you feel any better, Severus has taken on the attitude in the last year or so that if he ignores Harry, he's happier in life."

"Fine by me," Harry replied feelingly. "Where I'm from, he's been trying to get me kicked out of Hogwarts since my first day there. Not to mention that once he tried to call dementors to Kiss both you and Sirius…"

The wizard cringed and shivered. "Do yourself a favor and _never_ mention that to Sirius, okay?" His brow furrowed in confusion, Harry nodded. Just as he'd opened his mouth to ask about this rather strange statement, Remus had already changed the subject. "I've been thinking," he said quickly, obviously trying to silently tell Harry he didn't want to discuss it either, "about something you were telling me earlier, about what happened to you a few weeks ago – something about a Triwizard Cup being a portkey…"

Harry took the hint. "Yeah, when Cedric Diggory and I touched it, it took us to this cemetery where Wormtail was waiting with Voldemort." The boy ignored the shadow that passed by the werewolf's eyes at the mention of Peter Pettigrew's nickname for now.

"And you said this Diggory boy was killed before Voldemort was returned to full power, and then you dueled him?"

Harry nodded.

Remus returned the nod. "Well, our Harry had a bit of an accident playing Quidditch this past year," he began carefully. "Depending on the timing, it may be what connects the two of you."

"What happened to him?" Harry asked immediately.

Remus sighed. "I wasn't there, but from the different stories I've heard, Harry had the quaffle and was about to score – he plays Chaser for Gryffindor," he added at Harry's brief look of confusion, "and the opposing team's beater hit the bludger with enough force that it soared across the pitch, knocked Harry clean off his broom, and he fell a good hundred feet to the ground. Luckily a few of the teachers saw what was going on and were able to slow his descent so that he survived, but he was unconscious in hospital for a good two weeks." Remus grinned suddenly. "The most amazing part is that he still managed to score before he fell and right before Madam Hooch called the game to a halt, the Gryffindor Seeker caught the snitch, winning them the Quidditch Cup for the first time in a about a decade." Harry briefly considered asking who the Gryffindor Seeker was, but Remus was already speaking again. "By the time Harry started coming round, Lily was spending most, if not all, of her time at his bedside. She was going on about how he would start talking in his sleep about people coming out of wands and golden domes and things. Nobody really thought anything of it, we just – What's wrong?"

Harry had felt himself paling. "That's what happened in the graveyard," he whispered, trying not to shiver. "When I dueled Voldemort, our wands connected – Priori Incantatem, Dumbledore said – and these smoky shadows of people were pushing themselves out and they were able to talk to me and give me time to grab Cedric and get back to the cup. My mum and dad were the last ones, but Dumbledore said if I'd held out longer, hundreds more would have come as well."

Remus nodded very slowly as though he was connecting several very complicated thoughts at once. "So with our Harry's head injury, he was dreaming about what was happening at you at the same time. Perhaps we have our answer on _why_ this happened."

"But what would that have to do with me?" Harry asked. "So he was dreaming about it, why didn't he just get pulled into my world and start getting all my memories."

"Your memories?" Remus asked sharply. "What do you mean?"

Harry sighed and quickly explained how he'd been getting snatches of the other Harry's thoughts and memories over the last week, and about the incident in the attic where he'd gotten several at once.

Remus stood quickly, startling Harry and began pacing around the room in deep thought. "If you're getting his memories, that that would suggest you're _both_ in this world, leaving no Harry Potter in the other. Perhaps somehow your lives crossed over one another at some point, spilling you out here. Maybe there's something that needs to be done that only you can do."

"Or maybe fate is just pulling another one of its cruel pranks on us," Harry said suddenly with an ironic grin. The moment the sentence was spoken, Harry knew that this was the other Harry speaking.

Remus stopped and stared at him for a moment, obviously coming to the same conclusion. "That's something," the wizard said very slowly, "Peter used to say when something happened that nobody could find an explanation for."

Harry hesitated as the wizard fell back into the desk chair. "What happened to Peter?" he asked in a rather timid voice.

Running his shaking hands through his hair, Remus seemed to be considering what to say. "It was an accident," he said in a hollow voice. "About six years ago, Sirius and Peter were doing some work for Dumbledore and they wandered into, er… _enemy territory._ Neither of them realized where they were or what was happening until it was too late. They were completely surrounded by dementors, too many for the two of them to have fought them off on their own, but they were doing their damn best." Remus gulped. "Peter had always been rather hopeless with the Patronus Charm, but he'd been getting better over recent years. His patronus lasted long enough that, along with Sirius', the vast majority of the dementors had gone. Sirius was just chasing off the last few that he could spot when he heard Peter scream and by the time he'd spun around and realized what was happening, the dementor's hood was down, and…"

"It Kissed him," Harry said in horror.

Remus eventually nodded. "Sirius did everything he could to make it leave him alone; he kicked, punched… he said he'd even bitten it at one point. Even his patronus, desperate and strong as it was to save Peter, couldn't manage it – the dementor was too strong. It finished with Peter and left. Sirius showed up here in the middle of the night, with Peter – he said he didn't know where else was go…"

"I'm sorry," Harry managed to choke out.

"Sirius has never forgiven himself for it," Remus went on. Harry wasn't sure if the wizard had even heard him speak. "He went through about two years worth of very deep depression, during which your father and I took turns keeping watch on him to keep him from doing something stupid." He took a deep, shuddering breath and when he spoke next, it sounded to Harry as though the wizard had developed a head cold. "Harry, I'm telling you this because none of us have fully recovered – nobody speaks Peter's name if they can help it, and it took most of us years to even put pictures of him back on our walls and mantles. Regardless of what you think of him, it would be best that you kept those views to yourself, hmm?"

Silence filled the room for several minutes before Remus stood suddenly and started out of the room. "I'm sorry," Harry said quickly as the wizard grabbed the doorknob. He turned back and looked at Harry questioningly. "I mean, about talking about Peter the way I have been…"

Remus shook his head and gave him a kind smile. "You didn't know," he said gently. "In your world, Peter Pettigrew was something much, _much_ different than what he was – _is_ – here. You never had the chance to really know him, and if he hadn't done what he had in your world…" Remus shrugged. "Perhaps this," he gestured at the room, "would _be _your world."

With a murmured good night, Remus left the room. Harry lay back on his pillows, staring at the ceiling.

_You've been quiet_, he thought tentatively.

He thought he heard a muffled sniff in his mind as a reply, but that night, Harry dreamed about running around the backyard, being chased by a laughing man that he vaguely recognized as Peter Pettigrew, and that same man helping him setup pranks, or reading something to him, or just being there.

* * *

Next day, around lunchtime during which the three Potter children and Remus had spent twenty minutes chasing Ralph the Mutated Cotton Ball around the house when he'd somehow gotten out of Caleb's bedroom, Lily and James returned home. Piper immediately recounted everything she had done over the weekend to her mother while James asked Remus if the kids had behaved.

"They were perfect angels," Remus replied.

To this, James raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What'd you do, tie them up, gag them, and hide them in the closet?"

Lily clipped him in the back of the head while Remus explained that nobody had had to go to hospital and everything was where it had been when they had left.

"Uh huh," James said, still looking at Harry and Caleb rather suspiciously. "And what kind of blackmail do they have on you, Moony?"

Harry and Caleb merely rolled their eyes and followed their parents and Remus into the sitting room. "How was your trip?" Harry asked the adults.

He thought he saw Lily tense just a little as she set Piper on the floor to play with her dolls. "It was fine," James replied smoothly.

"Where'd you go?" Caleb asked eagerly.

"Italy," Lily supplied rather shortly. "Why don't you two take your sister outside so we can speak to Remus?"

Huffing resignedly, Caleb nodded, then announced he'd meet his siblings in the backyard – he just had to run upstairs for something really quick. When he arrived on the back porch, he was grinning like the Cheshire cat, waving around a card Harry immediately recognized as one of the boy's experiments. "I think I finished it," Caleb said quietly to avoid being overheard through the open window. "Found the last charm I needed last night. Do you have your wand?"

Harry nodded and handed it to Caleb as they retreated into the trees – Piper had run off ahead some distance, but Harry made sure to keep her in sight. As he watched, Caleb tapped the red queen of hearts card and muttered something unintelligible and a moment later, the center of the card seemed to go invisible and was immediately replaced by a staticky picture of the sitting room. "I thought it was supposed to play sound too," Harry asked as he watched Remus lean forward to hear whatever Lily was telling him.

"It is," Caleb said, sounding frustrated. "They must've put up and Imperturbable Charm to keep us from hearing anything. And I haven't figured out a way for that not to effect the way the cards work."

Harry gave a half-shrug. "Oh well," he said as Caleb stuck the card back into his pocket and gave Harry back his wand. "Maybe I can help you find some way around that."

Caleb seemed cheered by this suggestion and the rest of the afternoon was spent chasing Piper through the woods.

* * *

"…almost got seen," Lily was saying to Remus. "You'd think by now we'd know better than to use magic in that sort of situation."

Remus shrugged. "How were you supposed to know what kind of situation it was?" he asked fairly. "Regardless of how certain Dumbledore seems most of the time, it is possible for him to be wrong, you know."

"Well, it's just a damn good thing Lily was paying attention. I was still too focused on how Nott caught up with us," James said. "The son of a bitch undid all of our anti-tracking charms and by morning we could practically smell him."

"And if that wasn't enough," Lily said, "he had the mind to place anti-Apparition spells over about a fifty mile radius. Which is why we couldn't get back last night; we had walk all the way."

"No," James corrected her, a grin playing on his lips, "_I _had to walk all the way. You, my lovely, got to ride most of the way."

Remus chuckled at the image in his mind's eye of James in his Animagus form with Lily on his back as they ran through the trees to avoid any Death Eaters tailing them.

"Well, it did what we meant it to do, didn't it?" Lily asked smugly. "There were stretches where they couldn't find a single trace of human footprints, only an animal's, and they were confused enough that they took down the spells."

James rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"But did you find anything out?" Remus asked after the amusement ended.

James sighed. "Nothing we didn't already know," he said regretfully. "Voldemort's trying to recruit spies from other countries, he hates Dumbledore and the Order, and we're all going to die very painful deaths if we don't soon see the error of our ways and join the 'right' side." His air quotes were rather primitive and sarcastic, which made Lily and Remus look away from one another to avoid laughing at James.

Once she had her amusement under control, Lily spoke, "That's not all we heard, though," she reminded James. He looked confused for a moment before a look of dark understanding appeared on his face. "Last night around two in the morning, we'd holed up in a small cave for the night and put charms over to make certain nobody could see it for what it really was. James was asleep when they came and would you believe Nott and a few other Death Eaters actually setup camp fifteen feet from where we were?"

"I would," Remus said.

"I stationed myself at the mouth of the cave until they fell asleep and heard a few things," Lily said mysteriously. "Like how Voldemort has sensed some sort of disturbance and how he seems completely overjoyed by it."

"What kind of disturbance?" Remus asked quickly.

The witch shrugged. "Don't know," she replied. "That was all they knew themselves."

"Hmm…"

The backdoor opened and the adults could hear three sets of feet entering the kitchen followed by two voices asking the third to sneak them some biscuits from the cupboard. Lily rolled her eyes as James took down the Imperturbable Charm. "Anyone who touches the biscuits does dishes for the next month!" she announced as she entered to kitchen. Remus noticed as Harry led the way upstairs that the pocket of his pants seemed to have acquired rather large bulge that he tried to hide and happened to smell like chocolate.

He looked at the time and jumped. "I need to get to the shop," he told James. "We're expecting a large shipment this evening and I have to sign for it."

James yawned and nodded as he stood to show Remus out. "Thanks again for watching them, mate."

"As always, it was my pleasure. See you on Saturday for Harry's birthday?"

James grinned and nodded. "Of course."

With a wave, Remus went to the front yard, spun on the spot and Disapparated.

* * *

Saturday morning happened rather suddenly for Harry. One moment, he was in a very deep sleep, his pillow soaking up the drool that had been leaking from his mouth all night, and the next he was on the floor, grabbing for blankets to cover himself as his mother, father, brother, and sister very loudly entered the room.

"Happy birthday, sweetie," said Lily, kissing the very red-faced boy as he struggled to get back into bed.

"Thanks," he murmured as his father floated in a breakfast tray with all his favorite foods. "Was that really necessary? You nearly gave me heart failure…"

James chuckled. "It was Piper and Caleb's idea," he announced as the two youngest Potters argued rather loudly that the idea had indeed been the wizard's. "Anyway, eat your breakfast, take a long shower, and get dressed. Your mum and I have to make sure all your friends are on the safe list." Caleb whispered something to Piper and the girl covered her mouth to keep her laughter from escaping. One stern look from Lily and the two of them sprinted out of the room. "Sirius and Remus should be here in about an hour. So behave until then."

Harry grinned. "So when they get here, I don't have to behave anymore?" he asked innocently.

Lily rolled her eyes, groaning something about Marauders and how with every year that passes, she loses a bit more of her sanity as she left behind her younger children.

"Don't mind her," James said with a wink. "Happy birthday, Harry."

Smiling as his father started to leave as well, Harry swallowed a large piece of toast in order to call out his thanks.

An hour later, Harry was stepping out of the shower, wrapped a towel firmly around his body, and sneaking back to his bedroom before Caleb and Piper saw him and became tempted to steal said towel. Standing in front of his open wardrobe, the boy seriously considered what to wear that day, then realized that this was among the first times that he'd every really had the chance for that choice. In the end, he settled on a simple button-down blue shirt and a pair of cargo pants. Tying his trainers, he heard the doorbell ring, and along with it, Piper's squeal that seemed to match the pitch exactly. After running his hand through his messy hair, not even bothering to attempt flattening it, Harry headed to the top of the stairs to see who had arrived. He'd expected Sirius and Remus, but the two people with them were a complete surprise to the birthday boy. Helen Snowe stood smiling at Remus' left as Lily greeted and invited them inside, then Harry spotted Hermione Granger looking hesitant as she stepped over the Potter home threshold.

Harry grinned widely as he came down the stairs. For a moment or two, he was sidetracked as Sirius and Remus gave him their own birthday wishes, but James had heard them from the backyard and beckoned them to join him. Before either of them had really registered what had happened, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were left standing alone in the entranceway. "Er, I'm glad you came," Harry said to the girl. She looked as though this was the very last place she ever wanted to be – her arms were crossed so tightly that Harry didn't think they'd ever come apart and she was very carefully avoiding looking at anything but the ceiling. "Would you like something to drink?"

Hermione finally looked at him, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Preferably something tamperproof," she said coolly.

"Okay," Harry said, gesturing for her to lead the way to the kitchen. "There's butterbeer in the fridge as well as some sodas for the party." Hermione settled on a can of soda and Harry decided to join her. He watched in faint amusement as she cautiously opened the can, probably expecting the whole thing to blow up at her, and take a very small sip to ensure that the drink was what it should be. The two of them stood a good distance from one another in a rather tense, uncomfortable silence. "So, er, good summer?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you care?"

He shrugged. "Trying to be polite," he muttered. As he considered just going outside where the temperature would surely be warmer than the frigid kitchen, Piper ran inside and collided with Harry's knees.

"Happy birthday," she said, grinning up at him adorably as she hugged his legs.

He laughed and ruffled her hair a little. "Piper, I'd like you to meet somebody," he said, setting aside his can and picking the girl. "This is Hermione Granger. I go to school with her and she's the smartest in my year."

Piper stuck out a hand to a rather shocked Hermione. "Nice to meet you," she said politely.

Shooting Harry a strange look, Hermione shook the girl's hand. "Are you Harry's sister?"

Piper nodded as Harry let her down again. "Yup, and he's the bestest big brother _ever!_" she announced before skipping back outside.

"She seems to like you," Hermione observed as she looked outside. "Are you adopted or something?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "No. Why?"

"Because your entire family seems incredibly nice," she replied.

"And I'm not."

Hermione didn't reply, but Harry knew that had been exactly what she was thinking.

"Well, maybe I can change your mind," he finally said lightly, holding open the backdoor for Hermione to go through.

With another look Harry couldn't quite identify, she mumbled her thanks for holding the door and quickly made her way across the lawn to where her aunt was speaking to Lily. Harry had a look around for a moment and smiled widely. Three picnic tables were arranged on the grass, the middle one seeming to hold a large pile of gifts, while the one to its left was apparently reserved for the adults, and the one on the right, Harry assumed, was for himself and his friends. There were streamers from the top of the house to the trees and a large banner that was hanging in midair against the trees with _Happy Birthday, Harry_ glowing several different colors every few seconds. Another, smaller table sat beside the porch with food and drink and somewhere – Harry couldn't figure out where it was coming from – music played at a tolerable level to still allow the guests to converse without screaming at one another.

"Having fun?" asked Remus' voice from behind him. Harry started and turned. The werewolf was grinning. "Didn't mean to scare you." There was no apologetic tone in his voice. "I just wanted to inform you that your girlfriend will be arriving very shortly."

Harry blanched as he dropped his can of soda. "_Girlfriend?_" he asked weakly. "Who?"

Remus' grin only widened. "I think it should be a surprise," he said decisively. He moved in a little closer so only Harry would have the chance of hearing him. "Consider it payback for ruining my evening with Helen."

Harry stared openmouthed as Remus laughed at the look on his face and rather happily went to speak with Sirius and James about something.

_Damn Marauders,_ laughed a voice in Harry's mind.

_Don't suppose you'll tell me,_ Harry shot back.

_Not a chance._

_

* * *

_**AN: **Okay, so a few questions answered, maybe not to the length that you want them, but there you have it. Any theories on who Harry's girlfriend will be? See you when I post the next chapter! Please don't forget to review! Thanks!


	8. Eight

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Eight_

Harry barely had time to spin around and glare at Remus before a very shrill squeal erupted in the kitchen and the backdoor was thrown open. He managed to turn to face the source – a pink blur – before his balance was thrown off as someone threw themselves at him and began kissing him. The panicked fifteen-year-old backed up against the porch banister so the two of them didn't fall into the grass and he was aware of several snickers, a noise of mock-gagging, and a few slapping sounds.

"Can't… breathe…" He tried for nearly a minute to pull away the arms that had locked around his neck before the person backed up and horror really set in. "Lavender?"

Lavender Brown was beaming at him. "Happy birthday, my Harry-bear," she gushed in baby-talk.

Harry had to fight not to show his disgust. "Er, thanks," he replied, making a mental note to get back at the hysterical laughing voice currently filling his head. Luckily for him, he could push away the thought of Lavender Brown being his girlfriend for the moment; Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Parvati Patil had come out the door. The boys each greeted him loudly, slapping his back as they wished him a happy birthday and Parvati gave him a quick hug and peck on the cheek – which Lavender watched with narrowed eyes. Before anything else truly horrible happened – like Lavender attempting to kiss him again – Lily cleared her throat and gestured for the kids to come into the yard. Harry noted the look of disapproval in her eyes and wondered if it was directed towards her son kissing a girl or the girl herself. Harry hoped it was the latter.

Half an hour later, another dozen or so people arrived, all of them seeming to know Harry. Harry had a very vague recollection of seeing one or two of them in his old world, but for the most part, they were complete strangers. The noise level was high as all the teenagers greeted one another, wishing Harry a happy birthday, and the girls discussed how great the others looked in their clothes. To Harry's further horror, no matter where he went it seemed, Lavender insisted on coming with him. He wanted to shake her off, go talk to Hermione, but Lavender wasn't allowing it. She kept blocking him from moving, telling him every boring detail of her summer as though it had been some wondrous thing. It wasn't until James and Sirius returned with a large stack of pizzas – Harry hadn't even seen them go – that Harry's apparent group of friends noticed Hermione was even there.

Parvati had just returned from getting drinks for her and Dean when she spoke, quite rudely and loudly, "What's _Hermione Granger_ doing here?"

This of course drew Lavender's attention towards Hermione and she was now giving the bushy-haired girl a look of deep loathing.

Harry opened his mouth to respond "I invited her," in the coldest tones he could manage, but the words that actually came out were, "She's the niece of my father's friend," in careless tones followed by "don't be stupid," in his mind. So now not only was the other Harry very prominent in his mind, but dictating the words that came out of his mouth. Brilliant.

Somehow in the rush for pizza, Harry was able to duck away from Lavender by telling her he had to use the toilet, and took a wide berth around the crowd to find Hermione. "Sorry about them," he told her quietly.

"Why should you be?" asked Hermione loftily. "I'm used to it by now, don't you think?"

Harry's brow furrowed. "You shouldn't have to be…" But Hermione had already walked away to get a slice of pizza for herself.

"I wouldn't worry too much about her," said a voice behind him.

Harry started and turned to find Helen Snowe smiling at him. "Why not?"

"Because it was Hermione's idea for us to accept yours and Remus' invitation today."

With that, Ms. Snowe gave him another smile, a wink, and walked across the yard where Remus had gotten her pizza and a drink.

* * *

"…happy birthday, dear Harry! Happy birthday to you!" the crowd finished their song and cheered, whistled, and clapped as Harry leaned over his broomstick-shaped birthday cake, took a deep breath, and blew out the fifteen candles. Lily reached over to kiss the top of his head before she began cutting and handing out cake slices. Harry was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a chocolate cake with an apple center.

Harry took his plate of a large slice of broomstick handle cake and ice cream to a more shady area of the yard where Caleb and Hermione were in what looked to be a rather involved conversation. Caleb seemed to be picking Hermione's brain about possible ways around an Imperturbable Charm and Hermione was giving him possible suggestions.

"Mind if I sit?" the birthday boy asked.

"Huh? Oh, sure, Harry," Caleb said, startled out of his discussion. He noticed the plate his brother carried. "Wicked, cake… Want some, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded. "A small piece, though…" she called as Caleb ran to the middle table to get his cake.

Harry chuckled around his cake.

"What?" asked Hermione with what Harry strongly suspected to be amusement.

He shrugged as he swallowed his food. "Caleb seems to have taken a shine to you, that's all."

"He's very smart, you know. Some of his invention ideas are very interesting."

Harry mentally snorted, wondering what Hermione would think of Ralph the Mutated Cotton Ball, but settled for nodding. "So how does your aunt know Remus?" he asked, looking across the yard where the people in question were laughing over something.

"Remus' bookshop," Hermione replied. "I started visiting during third year when we got Hogsmeade weekends and I would bring home all these books over the summer that you couldn't find anywhere else in the wizarding world, not even Flourish and Blotts, and she got interested and started visiting herself a few months later. Now she's there every week it seems." She smirked. "She's very smitten with Remus, I think."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Same with Remus," he replied. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him in amusement. "Not that he's smitten with himself, but your aunt."

"I know what you meant, I just wanted to see if you knew," she replied teasingly. Her amusement died on her face. "Better lookout, here comes _Lav-Lav_."

"Who?" asked Harry, confused. He followed Hermione's line of sight and found Lavender making a beeline for them with Caleb not too far behind with two plates of cake. "Oh, right…"

"Why are you over here, Harry-bear?" Lavender asked in a very annoying tone Harry was already beginning to associate with being physically ill. "Don't you want to sit with people who actually have a sense of humor?"

Before he could argue that Hermione indeed did have a sense of humor, Lavender was dragging him by the hand back to the table with her friends. In her haste, she ran into Caleb, causing the boy to stumble to the side and fall into the grass. When he looked up, his face and hair were covered in cake and ice cream. Lavender took one look at him, giggled, and continued dragging Harry away.

As he looked over his shoulder and noticed the look of hurt feelings on his brother's face, somewhere buried in the icing and cake, Harry dug his heels into the grass, keeping Lavender from pulling him any further. "What the hell is your problem?" he asked her before pushing away her hand and running back to Caleb. "All right?"

Caleb nodded as Hermione helped pull some food out of his hair. "I think you annoyed your girlfriend, though."

Harry glanced over his shoulder long enough to see a crying Lavender being helped into the house by Parvati. "Who cares, she'll get over it," he said. "Come on, we'll have Dad clean you up…"

* * *

Indeed, within half an hour, Caleb was cleaned up and Lavender was back outside hanging all over Harry again as though he hadn't screamed at her for being rude to his brother. Harry was sitting at the middle table now in front of a pile of presents so huge even Dudley wouldn't know where to begin. Most of them were rather generic – several boxes of sweets, pranking supplies, Quidditch tip books. His parents had bought him a new wizard wireless that automatically placed a silencing charm around whatever room it was placed when it was switched on. Sirius had gotten him a very expensive watch, to which Lily had given a look of exasperation to Harry's godfather who pretended he hadn't seen it. Remus bought him a set of very interesting looking Defense Against the Dark Arts books. Caleb and Piper had given him a book of handmade coupons that promised Harry things like "Caleb will do dishes for one week" and "Piper will let you have a lie in later than eight in the morning for two weekends." Possibly the worst gift Harry had gotten of the lot was very obviously from Lavender – if Harry hadn't been able to figure it out by the pink wrapping paper decorated with little hearts and puckered lips, Lavender was positively shaking and squeaking in anticipation as Harry reached for the small package. Inside was a rather long black velvet box and though a feeling of doom appeared in his stomach at the thought of what would be inside, Harry opened it and nearly dropped it in horror. In the box was a thick gold necklace with a charm in the shape of a heart and "LB & HP 4-Ever" in thin script inside it. He immediately tried to give Lavender a look of gratitude as he closed it and tried to shove it under a stack of clothes he'd gotten.

"But you have to wear it!" Lavender said, reaching over Harry before he had the chance to stop her. To his immense embarrassment the girl put the necklace around his neck and spent nearly a minute trying to center the charm perfectly. Harry looked around the group of snickering people and made a mental list of people who he would be getting back very soon.

_Top of the list: Remus Lupin._ The wizard was practically doubled over, holding onto Sirius' shoulder as he struggled to breathe through his laughter.

Even Harry's parents were having trouble controlling their amusement, though Lily seemed to be doing slightly better than James – she was at least able to look directly at Harry and do nothing more than let her lips twitch as she tried not to join the rest of the group. Once everyone had stopped laughing – during which Lavender seemed able to block out the noise so she could stare adorningly at Harry – James and Sirius very suddenly offered to take Harry's gifts upstairs. Though his bedroom window was closed, Harry could very clearly hear loud, obnoxious muffled laughter for several minutes before their return.

* * *

Over the course of the afternoon, Lavender finally seemed able to separate herself from Harry for longer than thirty seconds, and the boy was now sitting in a circle of some of his friends. Harry only listened with half an ear as Seamus was telling the group how he'd figured out the best way to sneak firewhiskey into Hogwarts and began taking orders from the others who wanted their own bottle. The adults seemed to have moved inside along with Hermione. Caleb and Piper had disappeared an hour ago to amuse themselves elsewhere. And by early evening, the guests began calling out their farewells, wishing Harry a happy birthday again, and promising to see one another on the Hogwarts Express. Lavender didn't leave until the last possible moment, then spent nearly twenty minutes telling Harry how much she was going to miss him, how she would be dreaming about when they would see one another again, and how much she loved him. Mentally rolling his eyes, Harry resignedly leaned in for a quick kiss, luckily interrupted by Caleb pretending to vomit behind Lavender's back. Once she had disappeared in a whirl of green flames, after blowing Harry a kiss, the birthday boy collapsed into an armchair in exhaustion.

"Why do you like her?" Caleb demanded, sitting on the sofa beside Harry's chair. "She's a complete airhead."

"At least I have a girlfriend," Harry heard himself murmuring.

"If that's what dating is like, I'm having no part in it," Caleb said very firmly, making Harry grin lopsidedly. "Now Hermione is what a girlfriend should be: funny, smart, and not following you around like a bloody puppy dog."

Harry opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Caleb. "What, you fancy Hermione?"

"I never said that!" Caleb whispered loudly. Harry thought the boy's cheeks were turning very red. At Harry's sniggers, Caleb threw a pillow at him. "Shut up, _Harry-bear_."

Harry ceased his laughing immediately. Just as he was about to return the pillow thrown at him, someone cleared their throat. Both boys looked around and Harry subdued his chuckle when Caleb began turning even redder. "Hey, Hermione," Harry said. "Have a good time?"

"It was rather interesting," the girl replied. "I wondered if I could talk to you a moment before my aunt and I left?"

Surprised, Harry exchanged a look with Caleb and nodded. "Yeah, of course." Harry led Hermione upstairs to his room, ignoring the look on her face. "I wanted to take this stupid thing off anyway," he explained, removing the necklace from Lavender and shoving it in a desk drawer. "What's up?"

Hermione handed him a small parcel with green wrapping paper. "I just wanted to say happy birthday," she said, looking rather bashful. "And thank you for inviting me."

Harry grinned. "Thanks for coming," he replied. A moment later, he'd tossed aside the paper and was looking down at a box of quills.

"There are a few different ones in there," Hermione explained, coming to stand beside him and pointing out each quill as she described them. "There's one where the ink changes color depending on the user's mood, there's spellchecking one, one that corrects grammar and punctuation, and one that tells you if whatever you're working on will be receive a decent grade."

"They're brilliant," Harry told her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Hermione turned towards the door as her aunt called for her. "I should be going. See you on the train."

Harry nodded and walked her to the top of the stairs, and was glad he had so he was able to stop Hermione from interrupting: standing at the front door, rather close to one another, and talking quietly were Remus and Helen. The wizard had a rather nervous smile on his face as he asked, "I wondered if perhaps you'd like to have dinner out some time?"

Helen smiled softly and replied, "I would like that very much."

Remus' smile turned into one of relief as he hurriedly ran through setting a day and time for their outing. Helen agreed with a nod, told Remus she would speak to him soon, and started out the front door. "Er, Helen?" Remus called as she stepped off the porch. "Aren't you forgetting somebody?"

Helen seemed rather clueless. "Am I?"

"Your niece," Remus reminded her in amusement.

Hermione laughed and shook her head as she went down the stairs to join her aunt. "Bye, Harry!" she called as Remus closed the door.

"Bye!" Harry called back as he descended the stairs, a wide grin on his face as he approached Remus.. "So your _friend,_ huh?"

"Shut up, Harry-bear," Remus muttered in the same tone Caleb had a few minutes before. "You have absolutely no room to talk."

"Actually, I do," Harry said in low tones. "I sure as hell didn't ask her to be my girlfriend."

Chuckling, Remus nodded and steered Harry into the kitchen to join his parents, godfather, and siblings.

* * *

_Harry walked along a dirt path, unsure where he was going and why he was wearing his school robes. He'd been walking like this for nearly a quarter of an hour with nothing but the lit tip of his wand for light. The path curved and suddenly there were two beams of wandlight. Harry looked to his right and was unsurprised to find his other self walking beside him._

"_Any idea where we're going?" Harry asked._

_The other boy shook his head. "No clue."_

_They walked in silence for several more minutes until they heard a rather loud commotion up ahead. It sounded like some drunken party, all the voices jeering and laughing. Though Harry's first instinct was to duck behind a tree to see what they were heading towards, both Harries continued forward and eventually found themselves at the end of the path. In a graveyard._

"_I know this place," Harry said as he looked around. It was the place he and Cedric had arrived in when they touched the Triwizard Cup and as Harry looked around, he located Cedric's body a good distance from the crowd of robed, masked people. Not all of them were masked; there were three people Harry had no trouble recognizing as they drew closer. A third Harry had just fallen and was crawling along the dirt and rock, searching desperately for his wand while Lord Voldemort pointed his own wand at the boy, an evil grin on his face. Wormtail stood in the circle of Death Eaters, egging his master on. _

_The third Harry finally located his wand, scrambled to his feet, and pointed the wooden tube at Voldemort. The other Harries watched in amazement as Voldemort cast the Killing Curse and the third Harry cast a disarming spell. The two spells collided in midair and though Harry was certain he knew what was supposed to happen, it never did. No golden dome erupted around the two dueling wizards that lifted them from the center of the circling Death Eaters, no dead people pushed themselves out of Voldemort's wand. Instead, the red and the green erupted in the familiar golden beam shot straight up towards the sky before curving around, heading straight for the two Harries still standing at the edge of the dirt path that had brought them here. The two boys watched in fascination as the others in the graveyard faded into nothing and the gold beam streaked through the darkness at them, circling them, pushing them closer to one another until they stood shoulder to shoulder, and even then the circle shrank. Neither of them could pinpoint the moment their arms begin to melt into the other's. The circular beam spun faster still until a dozen more golden rings around them, all moving in different directions. _

_Very suddenly, it was all over. Harry looked to his right, searching for the other boy that had been there. He was completely alone, and yet not. Without delay, he spun on his heel and headed into the direction he'd come, leaving the graveyard behind._

_

* * *

_**AN:** Really, guys? Ginny? Doesn't anyone remember that whole thing at Madam Malkin's when Harry tried talking to Ron? Do you really think that anything would be much different if he'd tried talking to Ginny, let alone dating her? *sigh* Oh well, that horrid experience is over. For now at least. Thank you again for all the reviews and remember reviews are love, people, so keep them coming!


	9. Nine

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Nine_

Very early in the morning, almost a week after Harry's fifteenth birthday party, Remus Lupin Apparated into Hogsmeade, just outside a small, one-window shop. Like every morning, he smiled at the sign, wiped away a bit of the dust he could reach, tapped his wand against the doorknob, and entered. Even though the inside of the shop had been expanded magically, the available walking space was still rather limited since the inventory had greatly expanded over the years. Still, in a few of the corners were very comfortable armchairs where customers could sit and preview their purchases, and even a steep staircase that originally had led to a small apartment that the owner could occupy if they wished. Remus had converted it to house more bookshelves along with a small café-type area complete with small tables and chairs that was usually very crowded on weekends when Hogwarts students were allowed to visit the village.

Yawning, the wizard headed to the backroom of the shop where he checked that the latest shipments had been seen to before he opened a small safe in the wall. From it, he took a bank bag and returned to the main area of the shop to setup the till for the day's business. Just as he was finishing and putting away a few things that had been left out, there was a short knock on the door. Remus glanced at his watch, raised an eyebrow, then glanced towards the door.

_Who else would be up this early in the morning?_ he asked himself with a smirk as he went to open the door for the visitor.

"Fancy seeing you here, Professor," the wizard joked, gesturing for his guest to enter.

Albus Dumbledore chuckled. "I must admit that I have been rather impatiently waiting until sunrise to visit, Remus," the wizard said. "I received word late last night that my special order had arrived, but I did not have time to retrieve it before the shop closed."

Remus nodded and led the way to the counter where he kneeled down, searching for something. "Ah, there it is," he said, straightening up again, opening the package just enough to make certain the correct items were inside. "Four books, all on knitting patterns, one of which is a how-to on magical knitting, just as you requested."

Dumbledore smiled and exchanged the package for a few galleons. "I believe I owe from the last order you placed for me," he said at Remus' questioning look. After a moment, Remus dropped the gold in the till. "I wonder, Remus, if you have had time to consider my request?"

Suppressing a sigh as he led the way upstairs where the two wizards could have a cup of tea before the shop opened, Remus put off the moment he would have to reply as long as he could manage. He carefully kept his back to the Headmaster while he brewed tea and cut a few pieces of banana nut bread off the loaf Lily had baked him a few nights before. Only when both men were seated and halfway through their impromptu breakfast did Remus look at the older wizard. "I have, Albus," he finally replied. "And unfortunately, for the moment at least, I am going to have to decline."

Two white eyebrows rose to their highest point. "Might I ask why?"

Remus shifted in his chair and considered his answer carefully. He knew Dumbledore would not consider him rude if he said he couldn't share his reasoning, but something else was niggling at the back of his mind, urging him to expand on his reasoning. "Well, the most prominent reason is that James and Sirius have been much more vocal lately about my little wanderings and the lack of communication, and I think it might be best to keep myself closer to home for now."

Dumbledore nodded slowly, scrutinizing Remus closely. "Your friends have always been concerned with your well-being during missions, but this is the first time that you've suggested something of this nature. Is there something more weighing on your mind?"

The younger wizard hesitated. Though one part of his mind – the one that was still an adventurous fifth year at Hogwarts and enjoying his full moon escapades with his friends – was hissing at him to shut up, that he'd promised. But the other side was reminding him of everything that could possibly be at stake if he kept his mouth shut. He settled on very carefully phrasing his words. "Something has come to my attention recently," he began slowly, staring at the dregs of his teacup. As he stared, his mind seemed to begin seeing what looked to be a lightning bolt. "And as I am the only person currently aware of this occurrence, I fear that if I left home too soon this something could affect several people that I care very deeply for."

Chancing a glance at Dumbledore, Remus was rather surprised to find him in what James had long ago dubbed his thoughtful pose – he elbows rested on the table, his fingers laced together, and his chin resting on top. "Would this have anything to do with Harry Potter?"

Remus blinked at the Headmaster. "Why would you think that, sir?" he heard himself asking.

"Because I too have recently become aware of something that may impact several people I consider friends." Remus continued to look confused. "Nearly two weeks ago," Dumbledore began, leaning forward on the table, "there was an occurrence of a very strange, obscure magic that most in the wizarding world consider impossible and farfetched. As we are all aware, Remus, the Potter family is under the Fidelius Charm and has been since around the time Harry was born. I, as their Secret-Keeper, am much more sensitive to the goings on in the home than even James or Lily. Two weeks ago, I was started from my sleep by what felt like a ripple going through my body – imagine throwing a stone into a lake and the effect it causes. I was immediately aware that something had occurred within the home, but my investigations showed that all living beings within the household were perfectly safe. One, however, seemed a little different."

"Harry," Remus said.

Dumbledore nodded. "From his outward appearance, Harry was as normal as he has ever been. I was able to cast a long distance magic that would allow me to see what, if any, changes he, his siblings, or their parents had undergone. Almost immediately, the result of my magic showed that something rather drastic had changed about Harry. He was still himself and yet at the same time, he was not. There seemed to be an extra bit of energy and it was nearly three days before I began to understand what had happened."

"And what exactly did happen?"

"Remus, have you ever heard the term 'parallel universe'?"

The younger wizard's brow furrowed, but he nodded.

"There are several of these functioning as we speak and they normally do so without having any affect on any of the others. I believe what may have happened recently is two of these universes, ours and one other, have passed so closely to one another that a bridge, if you will, formed between the gap, allowing a person to pass through."

"_Why_ do you think this has happened?" Remus asked. "Harry – the other world's Harry, that is – was telling me of something that occurred in his world. He was dueling with Voldemort, their two wands connected, causing Priori Incantatem, and…" The wizard trailed off when Dumbledore began nodding slowly.

"When did this occur?"

"Harry said late June."

"And as I recall, that coincides with _our_ Harry's unfortunate accident on the Quidditch pitch which rendered him unconscious for nearly a fortnight." Remus remained silent while Dumbledore sorted out his thoughts. "Lily mentioned that Harry was talking in his sleep during one of the nights she kept vigil at his bedside."

Remus nodded. "I'd thought of that as well," he said quickly. "Something about domes and people coming out of wands."

"And Voldemort," said Dumbledore dryly. "Lily was rather concerned about this given her eldest son's connection with Voldemort and she chose to keep the details from all but James and myself. At the time, I admit myself rather perplexed by the situation – as far as I know, Harry has never been face-to-face with Lord Voldemort and would therefore have no reason to dream of him. Now, however, I believe our answer is rather obvious, don't you think?"

Though Remus did his best to outwardly display that he knew exactly what his mentor was talking about, there was a faint buzzing in his mind while it seemed to flip through a Muggle rolodex for answers.

Dumbledore finally smiled at Remus. "Sometimes I forget that what is obvious to me may not be so for others," he said with a chuckle. "The answer, I believe, is that when Harry, the one not belonging of this world, was faced with Voldemort and saw faces of people he'd known to be dead, along with his parents, if I am not mistaken," Remus nodded in confirmation, "our two worlds merged for a moment. Our Harry Potter saw what was occurring in his dreams and reached out to help his other self, thus bridging the gap."

"But how would our Harry have helped the other?" Remus asked.

"You would be surprised what wizards could do when they believe themselves in jeopardy, Remus."

It took a moment for realization to set in. "Are you saying our Harry believed his dream of what was happening to this other boy was actually happening to him?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said simply. "And even though it took a great deal of time, a few weeks, I believe, the other Harry was beginning to dream about our world, of the parents he never knew, the siblings and friends he never had. It was this that created a door between the worlds, allowing one world's Harry to fall into this world and merge himself with the Harry of this world."

"When you say merge," Remus began, "what exactly do you mean?"

"I mean that as time goes on, the two Harries – one from our world, the other from another – will become one. They will begin sharing thoughts between themselves, allowing bits of each personality loose at different moments as deemed appropriate by the mind they share. They will know every miniscule, seemingly unimportant detail about the other and this is what will help in their quest."

Remus blinked. "What quest?"

Dumbledore smiled mysteriously. "The one they are destined to complete."

* * *

"Mum! Harry stole my last piece of bacon!" Caleb called into the hallway as he reached over Piper to his brother's plate. "Give it back, you git!"

"No stabbing your brother with your fork, Caleb!" James said, entering the kitchen in his Ministry robes. He immediately confiscated said fork, then went around the table to Harry's plate. "And you, you ought to know better than to steal a bloke's bacon." Before Harry could respond, his father had reached down, taken the bacon slice he'd just stolen from Caleb, and stuffed it into his mouth. "There," he said thickly around the meat, "now there's no reason to fight."

James started out the backdoor, but Caleb called after him. "Hey! I need that fork!"

"Should've known better than to use it as a weapon, then," James said lightly. "You've still got a spoon and a knife, don't you?"

Glaring and murmuring some not so nice things about his father that Harry was certain the wizard was choosing to ignore, Caleb went about finishing his scrambled eggs and waffle. "Working late tonight, Dad?" Harry asked, finishing the last of his own meal and taking his plate to the sink.

James shrugged. "Could be, why?"

"Wanted to see if you could help me finish off my Transfiguration essay," Harry replied. "I only need a few more inches…"

James nodded. "If I can, I'd be happy to help," he responded with a wink. "But shouldn't you have had that done before now? You go back to school in three days."

"I was having trouble with it," Harry said with a shrug.

"Speaking of returning to school," announce Lily as she entered the kitchen, carrying a basket full of cleaned laundry, "Harry, I need you to stay home with Piper today so I can take Caleb to get his school things."

"You told me I could go next time!" Piper said loudly. "When you took Harry, you promised you'd take me!"

Lily sighed. "I know, Piper, but you and I can go when the boys go back to school and we can spend all day there roaming to your heart's content."

Piper looked to want to argue, but Lily and James had begun talking amongst themselves, thus silencing the youngest Potter. "Remus will be here around dinnertime," James was telling his wife. "Sirius and myself not far behind, depending on when we finish with everything going on in the office."

Lily made a sympathetic face and muttered something unintelligible to make James nod grimly in agreement. "Well, owl if you're going to be late," the witch said, kissing James before he left the house.

"Be good, you three!" James called over his shoulder before Disapparating.

Lily stood at the door for a good five minutes after James had left before being started out of her thoughtful trance as Piper chased Caleb around the kitchen because he'd stolen her doll and was threatening to use it for one of his newest experiments. "That's enough," Lily said, easily snatching the doll from her son's hands and handing it back to Piper. "Caleb, shower and get dressed quickly please. Harry, while we're gone, I want you to finish up whatever homework needs to be done – you can use your father's books if you need more for your Transfiguration essay, but he's not going to have much time. Feed Piper lunch, then take her to the attic while you get yours and Caleb's trunks. Understood?"

Harry nodded resignedly and set off to his father's study to find what he needed.

* * *

Having only been inside the walls of the Ministry of Magic for about ten minutes, James was surprised to find himself completely exhausted as he entered his office in Auror Headquarters. The moment he'd walked through the doors, he'd been bombarded with people asking questions to things they should know he couldn't answer. He sat behind his desk, rested his elbows on it, and his head in his hands, closing his eyes for a moment. But of course nobody could possibly let the Head Auror have even a few minutes of relaxation and peace.

"Go away!" he called in response to the knocking on his door.

"Is that any way to treat your best friend?"

James looked up as the door opened and Sirius popped his grinning head through. "Hurry up and get in here before everyone else realizes I'm here," he muttered. Sirius obeyed and plopped in a chair in front of the desk. "You just get in?"

To his surprise, Sirius shook his head. "Been here since five," he answered. "I take it you didn't get the call this morning?" James shook his head. "Lucky. By the time I got here, the whole place had gone mental. You'd think someone had just announced the goblins would be overtaking the Ministry."

"What happened?" James asked with an edge of impatience.

Sighing, Sirius got the hint and skipped the jokes. "From what I could tell, not a whole hell of a lot. We know there was a small attack upwards near Durham. No deaths, a bit of structural damage, but nothing we'd call catastrophic. I think what really has everyone up in arms about it is that it's not what we're used to."

James nodded in understanding. "We're used to several deaths a week," he said, shaking his head. "Do we have any idea _why_ they did this? Why not just do what they've been doing if they want to scare us?"

"I don't know," Sirius said. "Maybe they're just trying to distract us."

"From what?"

Sirius shrugged.

"Well, send a few teams to Durham, have them keep an eye out." James sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "I want another team sent out to Azkaban. We've been getting tips – though I can't say how reliable they may be – that someone may be trying to get in. No, you don't have to go." Sirius nodded in relief and shut his mouth. "You and I need to make a trip out to St. Mungo's anyway; I want to see whether our friend has woken up yet."

Sirius snorted and grinned again. "I really doubt it if he was cursed as badly as I heard he was."

James reluctantly returned the grin. "Probably, but we need to check." He yawned. "You coming for dinner tonight?"

Nodding, Sirius stood and led the way back to Auror Headquarters. "Of course. When was the last time I turned down a meal cooked by you beautiful wife?"

"Probably around the same time you lost all that weight because you were burning everything you cooked in your own place," James shot back. Teasing one another amicably, the two wizards rejoined Auror Headquarters to get started on their day.

* * *

Harry was browsing the bookshelves of his father's office, looking for the book he needed. Several of the ones he'd looked at so far seemed to lean a bit towards understanding the Dark Arts in order to destroy it. One book, whose writing was so faded on the binding that Harry couldn't even make out what it was without taking it off the shelf, was a little closer to what Harry was searching for – it at least seemed to cover Transfiguration somewhere in its pages – but flipping through the pages there was nothing he could use to finish his essay.

He stopped suddenly, spotting something odd in the pages, like one of them was thicker than the others. He turned back to find it was a photograph that looked a couple decades old and had faded writing on the back that read _Lily 8, Marauders 5. _Curious, Harry turned the photo over and practically fell over sideways from laughing. In the black and white photo, three young wizards that looked around Harry's own age were standing on what looked to be one of the sofas in the Gryffindor common room, yelling words Harry couldn't hear, though he suspected what a few of them were and that they weren't very nice. The reason for the wizards', who Harry immediately identified to be James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black, apparent fear and anger seemed due to what looked to be a toy mouse charmed to chase them around.

"No bloody way," laughed Harry, shutting the book, but stuffing the photo into his back pocket. He still hadn't gotten revenge for his father and his friends laughing at him over Lavender Brown at his birthday party.

Later in the evening, after dinner dishes had been cleaned up, Harry excused himself from the table while James, Remus, and Sirius all told Caleb of some story that involved their apparent bravery. Harry went to his bedroom and grabbed the photo, taking a moment to laugh at the terrified looks on the faces of the wizards in the photo before casting an Enlargement charm on it and heading back to the kitchen. He stood in the doorframe and listened as Sirius went on about how he'd charmed a mandrake to chase the Slytherin boys through the Herbology gardens.

Clearing his throat to draw the attention to himself, Harry grinned. "So you lot aren't afraid of anything?" he asked.

"Not much," James said, grinning cockily. His two best friends mirrored the expression.

Harry's grin widened. "I think I have evidence to the contrary." His statement had immediate results: the Marauders' grins weakened a little as they looked at one another trying to figure out what he could possibly have. Harry brought the photo out from behind his back for everyone in the kitchen to see.

"Look what I found," chanted Harry, dangling the photograph between two fingers. "Big bad Marauders scared of an ickle mousie..."

Remus went pale, while James turned an alarming shade of red and Sirius cursed under his breath. Lily was laughing aloud, as were Caleb and Piper.

"Prongs," said Remus, turning to his friend, "I request permission to kill your first-born son."

James pulled out his wand. "Hell with permission, I'll help you."

Harry took off running through the house as James, Remus, and Sirius chased him, casting harmless charms at him as they went. At one point, someone had hit him with a twitchy legs jinx as well as one that caused him to jump around in circles on one leg – the effect toppled him over to the carpet and next thing he knew, he was at the bottom of a pile of wizards as they fought to get the photo back.

"If any of you hurt my son, you will pay," Lily announced at the entrance of the sitting room. Harry was able to see her between someone's legs and she didn't look the least bit concerned; to the contrary, she was still laughing along with Piper and Caleb. "_Accio photograph_." Harry tried to keep his fingers on the corner, but it was soaring away from him before he had much of a chance.

The weight on top of Harry disappeared as quickly as it had come and he turned over to see Sirius cautiously approaching his mother, his wand still out. "Lily, you know I don't want to hurt you," Sirius was saying. Remus and James had given up and were now working on taking their jinxes off Harry. "Just give me the picture."

Lily's grin widened. "No." Before Harry could blink, the photo had shrunken to the size of a fingernail and Lily was shoving it in her pocket.

"Let it go, Padfoot," Remus said wearily. "You'll just end up hurting yourself."

Sirius started to respond, but was abruptly cut off when the lights shut off.

"What was that?" Caleb asked.

The atmosphere in the house changed drastically; the teasing and playfulness was gone, replaced by anxiety and fear. Four wands lit almost in unison and Harry lit his own in response. The same alarms that had gone off when Remus had tripped them weeks ago began to sound and over the noise, James' authoritative voice was throwing out instructions. "Caleb, take Piper to your room and lock the door – don't come out until your mother or I come for you. Remus, try to send a patronus to Dumbledore, tell him what's going on. Lily, you and Harry stay here while Sirius and I head out to see what's going on. We'll send word when we know what's happened."

For a moment, it looked as though Lily was going to argue, but after a look from her husband, she nodded, quickly kissed him, and gestured for Harry to follow her down to the basement. "What's going on?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Lily murmured, searching for something by wandlight. "Harry, hold your wand over there."

Harry did. His mother seemed to be looking for a potion of some sort. All along the walls were shelves containing a vast array of colorful phials, each labeled with hasty writing on little pieces of tape. This went on for a few minutes longer; finally Lily located what she needed. She turned from the shelves, pulled the cork out with her teeth, and shoved the phial under Harry's nose. "Drink it," she instructed.

Harry blinked for a moment before nodding and doing as he was told. It tasted citrusy and left him with a feeling of lightheadedness. "What was that?" he asked his mother as she led the way back upstairs.

"Disillusionment potion," she replied. "It'd take too long for you to go get your cloak and I want to know where you are until we figure this out."

They entered the kitchen and stopped dead. Just on the edge of the trees that surrounded the Potters' property, four wizards were stepping carefully through the grass, all of them were cloaked in black robes, masks covering their face.

"Sent my patronus," Remus said quietly, startling both Harry and Lily as he entered the kitchen. "What's wrong?"

Lily pointed outside. Remus looked and cursed just before a bright light filled the backyard and the house.

* * *

**AN:** Notes about this chapter: (1) Thanks to whydoyouneedtoknow for the dare that I incorporate my latest one-shot into this story and for a few bits of the dialogue. (2) This is for those reviewers who were whining that there was no plot, that it was all fluff. (3) This is for those reviewers who wanted some action. Anyone who has read my stories in the past knows that even though it may seem plotless at the beginning, when action starts, it don't stop. Patience is a virtue, my friends. Hope you enjoyed. Now please take a moment to review.

p.s. Time did skip ahead from the conversation between Remus and Dumbledore, and the scene in the kitchen with the kids and James. Just in case that wasn't clear enough...


	10. Ten

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Ten_

People were screaming. Blazes of light of all different colors were flying. Everything was in confusion.

Harry's eyes snapped open and looked around his surroundings for a moment, trying to work out what had happened. His father and his father's friends had been chasing him around the house, trying to recover a photo Harry had discovered to embarrass them, then amusement had turned into fear. Someone unknown had breached the wards around his family's property.

At this thought, Harry jumped to his feet, finding his wand had rolled under one of the kitchen cabinets. He snatched it up and ran to the backdoor, trying to get it open. It was magically shut and locked, and nothing Harry could think of would unlock it. He was stuck, watching as a battle waged between the porch and the forest.

He could clearly see his mother and father, as well as Sirius and Remus, sending curses towards a group of people whose faces were hidden behind masks. Desperate as he was to join the fight, he knew his parents had probably locked him in the house for a reason. But still, he was forced to watch as several curses—as many as the other side was sending—hit his parents and his honorary uncles connected, causing them to bleed or be thrown backwards further than should have been possible. At one point, he was certain he heard Remus' ankle snap.

Harry growled in frustration. "Why can't I get out there?" he asked aloud.

"Because they don't want you to," replied his own voice.

Harry spun around, seeing a boy who looked exactly like himself leaning casually against the cabinet between the stove and fridge. Harry didn't question why he could see straight through his other self's midriff to where his mother kept her cookbooks. "How do you know?" he challenged.

The boy rolled his eyes and pushed himself forward. "How do you think? I've lived here a hell of a lot longer than you have. Don't you think I would have learned a thing or two in that time?" Harry didn't reply. "The house is under the Fidelius Charm, from the front porch to the back and the moment you step foot on the grass, you're out of the Charm. From there, you're protected by all the charms and wards Dad and Remus and Sirius have put in place, but that's it. If someone wants to find you while you're flying, they can. Normally, it would take days to break those wards without whoever was doing it getting killed so there's going to be an uproar over that."

"So we just have to sit here and watch them get hurt?" asked Harry, pointing over his shoulder through the window.

The other boy sighed. "Yes," he said simply. "But they're pretty damn good with their wands. Especially Mum when she gets worried about us—mother bear and her cubs and all that." He gave a lopsided grin. "She can be scary when she wants to be."

Harry nodded, sitting at the kitchen table. The other boy sat with him. "How are you here?"

"I don't know," the other boy said. "This is all a bit weird. Why do you get the body? Why do I look like a ghost? When am I going to get control over my life again?"

Harry's brow furrowed. "D-do you want me to leave?" he asked hesitantly.

The other boy shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying. Actually, strange as it sounds, I kind of like having you here. A fresh pair of eyes seeing things that I've been looking at all my life and not thinking twice about them—it's fascinating, really."

"And here I thought all you ever thought about was what Lav-Lav wore under her robes," Harry replied dryly, feeling disgusted just saying it.

He received a sly grin. "I admit she's not much of a conversationalist, but she is very easy on the eyes." The other Harry's grin widened. "Not to mention she worships the very ground I walk on."

"That's not everything, you know."

The other merely shrugged. "So I hope you don't mind, but since you've been getting a few of my memories over the last few weeks, I've been seeing several of yours. Did you really fight Voldemort that much?"

Harry nodded and held out a hand to count on his fingers. "First year, he possessed Quirrell," one finger went up, "second year he was a memory in a diary," another finger, "I don't think you can really count third year, unless you think about dealing with his followers. And last year, I saw him come back to power."

"In the graveyard." The other boy was nodding. "I don't think I've ever met anybody whose dealt with him that often and lived to tell the tale."

"Have you ever seen him?"

"Not face-to-face. The closest I've ever come was when I was five and got caught by Death Eaters when I was sneaking out late at night."

Harry's brow furrowed. "What happened?"

"You want to see?"

Harry nodded. Before his eyes, or maybe in his mind, he began to see a little picture forming. He closed his eyes and was fully immersed in it.

_A five-year-old Harry was creeping through the dark hallway of the Potter home doing everything he could not to make enough noise to wake his parents. He paused at the backdoor, looking over his shoulder only briefly before pushing open the door and stepping onto the porch. Somewhere out here Harry had left one of his toys—a Muggle car his father had charmed to move on its own—and he couldn't fall asleep until he got it back. He looked under the chairs, behind the potted plants, and had no luck. Then he spotted it. It was right there in the grass, but Harry hesitated. Hadn't his parents told him never to leave the porch after dark without one of them?_

_Well, he reasoned with himself in five-year-old logic, it'll just be for a second. What can happen in a second?_

_With this thought firmly in mind, he took a deep breath and began to run. He jumped over the stairs, landed in the damp grass and continued to his toy car. The moment he had it in his hand and he turned to return to the house, he heard a strange noise. It was a whimper of some sort, not from an animal, but a person. It sounded a little like Caleb did when he wanted something on a high shelf. Harry stared at the trees for several minutes, knowing he needed to go back inside, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. Slowly, he walked towards the trees and the dirt path that led to the clearing not far from the house where his dad took him to fly. The moment he stepped foot on the dirt, several things happened at once. Something knocked him to the ground, someone shouted to someone else—Harry couldn't understand what they said—and he was being roughly yanked off the ground and held tightly in someone's arms. He knew immediately these arms weren't friendly; they were pressing painfully against his ribs. He began to struggle and scream for his mum and dad, and someone slapped him hard in the head, making him cry out even louder. Whoever had a hold of him turned on the spot and Harry disappeared._

"I was gone for three days," the other Harry said when the picture had gone away. "Mum and Dad were going mental over it. Remus and Peter ended up finding me in some alleyway in London by pure chance. I don't remember much of it—everyone thought I'd been Obliviated so I couldn't identify where I'd gone or who'd had me.I had some cuts and bruises and a cracked rib, but otherwise I was fine."

"Why did they let you go?"

The other boy shrugged. "Nobody ever found out. What I do remember, though, is the look on my mum's face when she saw me for the first time since I disappeared. We've never really seen her cry, only when her parents or friends died, and even then she tried to hide it from us, but I never forgot what she looked like. Her eyes were all red and swollen and she had tear tracks all over her face and she looked like she hadn't slept in days—which was probably true. Seeing her like that scared me worse than whatever it was I'd gone through. She's always been really protective of me because of the prophecy. She wouldn't even let me sleep at friends' houses until I was eight because she was worried something might happen to me."

"Prophecy?" asked Harry.

The other boy blinked. "You don't know about it?" Harry shook his head. "Maybe it doesn't exist in your world…" He sighed. "Well, it goes like this: _'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies.' _There's more to it, but Mum and Dad don't think I need to know it all just yet. Voldemort knows that bit and he knows that it could apply not only to me, but another boy whose birthday is the day before mine."

"Who?"

"You know Neville Longbottom?"

Harry stared. "Neville Longbottom?" he repeated. "Neville Longbottom could be one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord or whatever it was?"

The other nodded, grinning. "You'd be surprised what Neville can do when he wants," he said.

"Are we talking about the same Neville?" Harry asked. He propelled forward several memories he had of the boy in question—Neville as a first year being bucked off by a broomstick, getting stuck in one of the trick stairs, melting cauldrons in Potions class.

"The very same," the other boy told him. "Though here he's not that much of a klutz. He'll never try out for Quidditch—prefers the greenhouses—and he does have his moments where he can barely hold onto his wand, but he also has his moments when you need to just get the hell out of his way. Listen, the reason I'm even bringing this up is because there has to be a reason you're here, right? Well, I think it might have something to do with the prophecy."

"But I don't have anything that could defeat Voldemort," Harry said blandly. "What am I supposed to do, push him off the Astronomy Tower?"

The other boy grinned lopsidedly. "Not the worst idea I've ever heard," he said. "But something tells me that's not going to do it. Maybe between the two of us we can figure it out. Where you're from, your mum sacrificed herself for you, right?"

Harry nodded, not wanting to point out that the two boys essentially had the same mother. "Yeah. Dumbledore told me it was her love for me that kept me alive when Voldemort turned his wand on me."

"And you just got a scar, right?" Harry nodded. "Well, maybe that's something to do with it. It's a start at least."

Just as Harry opened his mouth to speak, something strange happened. The kitchen began getting fuzzy and staticky, and the other boy started to pulsate. Moments later, he disappeared completely and everything went black.

* * *

"What d'you reckon happened to him?" asked a man's voice.

"Don't know," replied another. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was hit with a spell or something. But nothing would have been able to get through to him."

"Give him some air," said a woman's voice. "He's waking up…"

Harry blinked several times finding himself on the kitchen floor where he'd been just before his very odd conversation with himself. The lights had finally come back on in the house and people were kneeling all around him—after a few moments, he recognized them as his parents, Sirius, and Remus. "What happened?" he asked groggily, trying to sit up. Someone placed their hand in the middle of his back to help him.

"Well, you either were cursed, fell and hit your head," said Remus as James and Sirius helped him into a chair, "or you haven't been sleeping enough and decided it was the perfect time for a nap."

James and Sirius snorted a laugh while Lily handed her son a glass of water. "How do you feel?" she asked anxiously.

Harry drained the glass in three large gulps. "Fine," he replied, surprising himself with the word, though it was true. "What happened to you? Where are the Death Eaters?"

"We're fine," James responded. "The Death Eaters are currently sitting in Ministry custody until such a time that they can be taken to Azkaban."

"Who were they? How'd they get here?"

"Someone's full of questions tonight," Sirius said dryly. Harry wasn't sure if he approved or not. "Second question first, I think. We think they somehow put a hole in the wards only large enough for one person to get through at a time and without setting off any of the alarms. As it is, we'll be spending the next two weeks trying to figure that one out."

"Who they were isn't important," James told him. "What I want to know is why they came…"

Harry sighed and looked around. "Where're Caleb and Piper?"

"Asleep," Lily told him. "The charms activated while we were dueling outside and sent them to the Ministry, which brought a few Aurors out to help us, and Kingsley brought them back about half an hour ago."

Harry didn't bother asking who Kingsley was.

"You should get some sleep," James said to his son, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We'll talk in the morning, okay?"

Nodding, Harry got up, accepted a hug and a refilled glass of water from his mother, and went up to his bedroom.

* * *

James waited until he heard the quiet click that signaled his oldest son had closed his bedroom door before he turned to his wife and friends. "So who wants to start speculating on why they were here?"

"Well, who wouldn't want the chance to take out Head Auror James Potter?" Sirius asked dully, earning smacks in the head from Lily and Remus. "Think about it, they didn't just happen to wander into the backyard. They knew exactly where they were, even if they couldn't see the bloody house. Not for lack of trying, though; I caught a few of them inching closer and closer to the porch."

"I'm sure this has been covered many times in the past," Remus began, "but could someone please remind me why Dumbledore couldn't place the Fidelius Charm over the entire property?"

"Because the larger the area the Charm is cast over, the higher the chances are that the Charm could be weakened. It's safest to just have it over one specific place instead of acres of land, which is what we have." Lily sighed heavily. "This is Harry's kidnapping all over again," she went on quietly. "No one could figure out how they got in that time or why they wanted to, and we still don't know."

James put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. "This isn't like that," he said firmly. "The kids are fine, we're all fine, except a few cuts and bruises—"

"Not to mention Moony's ankle is going to be sore for the next week," Sirius put in.

James shot him a _you're not helping_ look. "We'll just have to be even more careful than we have been. Maybe there's a way we can expand the Fidelius Charm somehow."

Remus' brow furrowed. "What if you had two Secret-Keepers?" he asked. "One covering the house, the other covering the rest of your property? That way no one will know where to find you."

"It's an idea," James muttered. "We'll talk to Dumbledore at the next Order meeting. In the meantime, I think we all need sleep. You're both welcome to stay for the night." He gestured at Sirius and Remus. "I'd feel a little better knowing there were more people around, just in case…"

After a few minutes, it was agreed upon that Sirius and Remus would stay the night and following several attempts at humor from all four adults, none of which were successful, they all made their way up the stairs. Sirius and Remus each took a guest room and waved good night to Lily and James. As the couple readied themselves for bed, James remained silent, trying to figure out exactly what had happened tonight.

_This is the first time since the wards were put into place that something like this has happened. There has to be a reason for it. _

At the top of this list was his oldest son. It wasn't a secret that Voldemort had been wanting to get his slimy hands on Harry and Neville Longbottom since they were babies, but why wait so long to attack? And why, if this attack was somehow related to the prophecy, had Voldemort sent such Death Eaters so low in his ranks?

_Maybe they were checking out the area. Far as I know, Voldemort isn't aware of what charms we have in place, so he wouldn't want to risk someone in his Inner Circle getting caught and arrested. But what was the point? The captured Death Eaters wouldn't exactly be able to contact their master to give him any information… Unless he has some way to know what they'd gone through without being anywhere near them. _

Sighing in frustration, knowing his thoughts would be going around in circles until he got suitable answers, James turned to the bed where his wife was staring broodingly out the window. "Harry's fine," he said mechanically as he lay beside her. "He's not hurt, he wasn't captured…"

"That's not what I'm worried about," she said quietly. "I know he was safe—I gave him a protection draught before we spotted the Death Eaters."

James' brow furrowed. "So what are you worried about?"

"Something isn't right about him, James," she said pensively. "I know I've been saying that a lot lately, but I can't get it out of my mind. I know when something is wrong with my children, and though I don't think anything is actually _wrong_ with Harry, something isn't right."

"What do you think it is?"

She shook her head and sighed. "I don't know. He seems older than just fifteen and much more aware of his surroundings than he's ever been. It almost seems like he switched personalities with somebody. He's still himself, only… not."

He nodded slowly. "I've noticed a few things myself," he replied. "Mostly at his birthday party—did you see how he stuck up for Caleb when Lavender ran into him and he fell? Harry's never done that; normally he would have kept walking, laughing all the way. Maybe he's just growing up."

"I don't know anymore."

"We'll figure it out, love," James promised, pulling her against him. "Get some sleep, you look exhausted."

Shifting a bit to get more comfortable, Lily kissed his chest, rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, and she was asleep moments later. James stared at the ceiling for hours, his eyes chasing shapes the moon was making on the ceiling while he tried to figure when his life had become this complicated.

The worst thing Lily and James had had to worry about over the last few years not related to the war was how to keep Harry and Caleb from killing one another. But Lily was right; something about Harry had changed and the change had happened very suddenly. Whatever it was, James wasn't sure if he wanted to call attention to it—Harry had a tendency to change his behavior drastically if he realized someone was onto him.

_But really, the most important thing right now is keeping him safe, no matter how he's acting. And in two days, it's going to be much more difficult to do that…_

_

* * *

_**AN:** Mmmk, a little more plot, more questions to be thinking about. Much thanks to whydoyouneedtoknow for agreeing to beta for me! And unfortunately, I'm too tired to think of anything amusing to say, so I'll leave you with a plea that you review! See you next time.


	11. Eleven

**Warning: Character Death**

**

* * *

**_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Eleven_

Regardless of the fact that Harry and Caleb had been made to pack their trunks the night before and were woken up before the sun even had a chance to rise, 1 September was not starting out well at all. The two boys were running around the house, remembering last minute things they hadn't packed while their mother rolled her eyes at them and told them to pick up the pace, they had to be gone soon.

_I need my left shin guard!_ the other Harry said.

Harry growled and vaulted up the stairs and into his bedroom. _Where is it?_

_Top of the bookshelf._

_Why couldn't you have told me this last night?_

_If I had, what fun would this be?_

_Shut up._

Harry pulled over a chair, climbed up, and reached around the top of the dusty bookshelf, feeling around until his hands touched what felt like a shin guard. _Eurgh!_ _Why are my fingers all green and sticky now?_

_Ask Caleb. He probably let loose one of his little friends in here…_

With the shin guard in hand, Harry hopped off the chair, tossed it in his trunk, and headed down the hall to the bathroom to clean off his now stinging hand.

"Mum says hurry!" called Piper's voice from the bottom of the stairs. "We're already late!"

"Move, Harry! I have to use the toilet!" Harry turned to find Caleb in the doorframe doing a strange little dance. "Come _on!"_

"Alright, alright," Harry replied, pushing past his brother and heading down the stairs. During the time he'd spent upstairs, more people had arrived. Remus was in the kitchen talking to Lily along with Helen Snowe. After a little more searching, he found Hermione sitting on her trunk on the front porch. "You can come inside, you know. We don't bite."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be so sure," she said dully, nevertheless walking through the open door Harry held for her. "I take it you're not quite ready to leave?"

Harry shook his head. "Thought we were," he replied. "But we kept forgetting stuff." Luckily there was more than one Potter boy going back to Hogwarts, so the _we_ Harry used was completely substantiated. "Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here anyway?"

"Your mum decided it didn't make much sense taking two cars to King's Cross, so she called my aunt last night and invited us to ride along with you."

"And Remus just happened to show up the same time you did?"

Hermione grinned oddly. "Not quite," she said airily.

Harry's brow furrowed. "What happened?"

She scoffed. "Like I'm going to tell you. Hello, Caleb."

Caleb had just jumped the last three steps, coming to a halt right beside his brother. "Hey, Hermione. Are we leaving soon?"

"We're leaving now," James announced, entering the front hallway. "You three get in the car. Remus and I will load the trunks… Make it quick, please. I do have to be at work at some point today…"

About ten minutes later, three trunks, two owls, four adults, a four-year-old, and the returning Hogwarts students were finally on their way to London. There was a bit of an argument between Lily and James on whether it would be safe enough to use an Invisibility Booster that had been installed so they could get there more quickly, and after Remus' insistences that if they didn't use it, they would have to find an alternate mode of transportation to get the students on the train, the car was going three times the legal speed limit and somehow avoiding every other car on the highway.

Harry snorted mentally, thinking the only way to get to King's Cross that would be better than this would be using the Weasleys' flying car.

_Weasley has a flying car?_ asked the other Harry blandly.

Harry immediately showed him the memory of how he'd got to school in his second year.

_Huh,_ the other boy said, sounding a bit impressed. _Maybe I don't give him enough credit…_

_I could've told you that._

* * *

Sirius Black yawned as he boarded the empty Hogwarts Express, the crowd on the platform growing larger and more impatient. The Aurors had been doing searches of the train for years now before any students boarded to ensure no unsavory characters were hiding out.

Regardless that they had never found anything and the school train had never been an open target for Lord Voldemort, James had insisted on carrying over Mad-Eye Moody's tradition every year on 1 September. Sirius suspected this was because his children would be riding the train and while he didn't blame his best friend for being overprotective of his sons, he had been wondering what would happen if they ever did find something onboard the train.

_We'd do what we always do,_ Sirius thought, poking his head into one of the bathrooms. _Stun, detain, and question until our throats are raw. Not that that has actually done anything to help us recently…_

A dull _thud_ somewhere down the train drew his attention.

_Tonks probably tripped over something… Again._ Nevertheless, he moved quickly through the train corridors.

* * *

"Let's go," James called, pushing one of the trolleys between platforms. "You miss the train, you're staying home for the term."

"He doesn't really mean that, does he?" Hermione asked Harry in a whisper as they upped the pace to catch the adults.

"He does a little," Harry responded with a grin. "He's not the biggest fan of owling in sick to work—makes him look bad…"

They arrived at the barrier between platforms nine and ten with a quarter of an hour remaining before the Hogwarts Express left the station. As casually as possible, Lily leaned against it with Piper in her arms, and was followed by Helen Snowe, then Remus and James with the trolleys, leaving Harry, Hermione, and Caleb.

"Go on, right behind you," Harry said to his brother. Looking over his shoulder as Caleb disappeared, Harry gestured for Hermione to run through before he joined her on the other side. He grinned up at the sign that read Platform 9 ¾, and glanced over at the Hogwarts Express. Even in a parallel universe, some things never change, and the scarlet steam engine, Harry was relieved to find, was one of them.

* * *

"Tonks?" Sirius called, having not found his cousin anywhere else on the train. He was in one of the luggage compartments—this one was full of trunks so it had been closed, forcing people to put their stuff elsewhere. "If you're playing around, I will make sure you you're on desk duty for the next fortnight. Where are you?"

He sighed in annoyance when there was no response. Cursing, the wizard caught himself as he tripped over something. He looked down and found that something was a shoe. He blinked as he looked around him—none of the trunks were open, so unless someone had just thrown in a random shoe…

"_Lumos_," the wizard muttered, using his wand to follow the shoe further up, only to find it was connected to a body, and that body was his cousin. "This isn't naptime, Dora," he chided, gently nudging her leg with his own shoe. She didn't stir. "Tonks, come on, we've got work to do." Nothing.

He stepped over the young witch and knelt beside her head, his lit wand showing him his cousin's features. Extending two fingers, he sought a specific spot on her neck, sighing in relief when he felt a pulse.

_Probably stunned. But who would have stunned her? The only people on the train are Aurors—_

"_Expelliarmus!"_

Sirius felt himself flying backwards and though he tried, he couldn't hold onto his wand. Trying to ignore the pain in his back, the wizard got to his feet, and spotted the person who had cursed him. "Oh shit."

* * *

"Come on, you lot," James was calling while his wife gave their sons several last minute hugs. "Lily, you'll see them in a few months. They have to go."

"Harry, a word?"

Harry started and looked over his shoulder, finding Remus standing behind him, his blue eyes twinkling. "Er, sure…" He followed the wizard a few pillars down where people were scarce. "What's up?"

"I just thought I should mention before you got on the train that Headmaster Dumbledore is aware of your… er, _situation._"

Harry's eyes widened. "I thought you weren't going to tell anybody?"

Remus' apologetic look didn't seem completely genuine. "Well, I had to explain to him why I didn't want to go on another mission for him right away. If it makes you feel better, he seemed to be aware of it before I even spoke to him."

"That figures," murmured Harry with a grin.

Remus returned the grin. "So if you need to speak about anything during the school year, send me an owl—I won't be far away."

"Thanks. So what happened with you and Ms. Snowe?"

Blushing deeply, Remus began muttering nonsense words while he pushed Harry back towards the train.

"Oh, come on, it has to have been something—"

A huge blast rocked the Hogwarts Express, startling the whole crowd. Several people screamed and backed away, staring nervously at the train. As he watched, Harry spotted his father and a few other wizards edging their way forward—the train was now resting as innocently as it had been moments ago.

"What was that?" asked Harry.

Remus shook his head, his hand gripping Harry's shoulder almost painfully. "I don't know," he responded. "Stay with me, though."

Harry nodded and together they joined the crowd.

As they watched, people were beginning to mutter that it had just been a fluke occurrence. That was until the jets of light began flying from the open compartment windows.

"Get down!" somebody screamed over the panicking crowd.

Harry felt Remus shove him to the ground. The boy reached around to his pocket for his wand, and began looking around for the source of the sudden attack. People were screaming and falling, animals were screeching, curses barely missing parents and students alike. A curse hit a pillar close to Harry, and it began to crumble from the attack. Harry pushed himself up on his hands and knees and hurried away before the whole thing collapsed. Something was on fire—the smoke nearly made him retch. He looked around for his parents and Hermione and Remus. They were nowhere nearby.

"Oi!"

Harry spun around, pointing his wand at the source of the voice, nearly dropping it when he recognized the wizard's face.

The other grinned evilly, glancing around to make certain they were alone. Once done, he turned back to Harry, his wand trained on the boy's chest. "Surprised to see me?"

"Don't know why I should be," Harry spat in response.

"Well, you won't be doing much seeing after this, will you?"

Before Harry could respond or duck or run away, he saw the bright green jet of light speeding towards him. He hit the ground aware only that this was quite possibly the worst pain he'd ever been in.

* * *

"_Stupefy!"_

James stunned the Death Eater who'd tried to jump off the top of the train to attack him and whirled around, searching the panicked crowd for his family. Somebody fell into him, knocking him to the concrete; for a moment, he thought he spotted a head of unruly hair so like his own. Blocking this out momentarily, he rolled over, jumped to his feet, and continued fighting.

_Where the hell are Sirius and Tonks? _he asked himself, stunning two wizards who'd ganged up on a group of first years.

"IT'S DONE!"

James stopped in his tracks, searching for the source of the voice, but the moment the words were spoken, every Death Eater in the vicinity Disapparated.

_Can't be that easy…_

"James!"

He followed that voice and found his wife behind a pile of trunks with Piper, Caleb, Helen, and Hermione. "Where are Remus and Harry?"

"I'm here," said Remus' voice behind him. "I lost Harry, though…"

A shrill voice screamed on the other side of the platform and a lead weight filled James' stomach. He exchanged a look with Remus and the two friends headed in that direction, pushing themselves through the crowd that had gathered. Whispers were filling the area that sounded suspiciously like—Killing Curse and Harry Potter.

_No. Nonononononono… _

James broke through the circle and collapsed to his knees. The head of unruly hair he'd seen was indeed his son. Harry's eyes were wide open in shock, his wand still held tightly in his right hand, and his mouth open in an unspoken scream.

Somewhere behind him he heard Lily's voice crying and screaming, but he couldn't make sense of it. His vision was blurry, he felt dizzy. Harry, his Harry, his son was dead.

He couldn't remember when he had been forced to stand and turn away from his dead son's face, didn't know who had tried to whisper useless words of condolence and comfort. He didn't register his second-in-command hopping off the train or Sirius' own cries of surprise when he spotted Harry. At some point, somebody had set him down in a chair—he didn't bother wondering where the chair had come from—and then guided Lily towards him.

Her cries were muffled to his ears as though he was wearing earmuffs, but he held her tightly to him while she cried that it couldn't have been Harry, not her baby.

* * *

Remus stared open-mouthed at the boy on the concrete. This couldn't be happening. Harry couldn't be dead. The thought that the Harry on the ground wasn't the boy he'd known his whole life, but one from another world hadn't even crossed his mind. He felt a hand slip into his own and jumped a little, looking to his left, unsurprised to find Helen standing beside him. Nothing was comforting him right now, not when he was left to stare at Harry's shocked face as it relaxed into a more natural position and a jagged cut bled on his forehead.

_Wait. That's not right…_

Carefully, he extracted his hand from Helen's and moved forward, kneeling beside Harry. Was it just a trick of the light that made it seem like the boy's chest moved as though he continued to breathe? Unsure whether he wanted to be wrong about this or not, Remus' shaking hand moved towards Harry's mouth and nose, and he felt air moving.

"He's alive," he whispered. He jumped to his feet, pushed past the people that had gathered around him and Harry, searching for Lily and James. "He's ALIVE!"

"What?" Sirius asked, wiping his face.

"Harry. He's alive. He's breathing."

James blinked and for the first time in several minutes, he looked aware of his surroundings. "What do you mean he's alive?" he asked cautiously.

"Check for yourself," Remus responded. "He's moving, he's bleeding—dead people don't bleed—and he's breathing."

The look on Sirius' face promised that if Remus was wrong about this there would be hell to pay, but the werewolf followed his friends back over to where Helen was now examining Harry for herself. She quickly jumped up and out of the way for the boy's parents to kneel beside him.

"How is this possible?" Helen asked in a whisper as a large smile spread over James' face.

Remus shook his head. "I don't know. But we need to get him to St. Mungo's."

Sirius was now trying to pry Lily and James away from their son, explaining to them that he needed to be seen by a Healer. Giving it up as a bad job, Sirius searched around a few moments before locating an empty cigarette pack. He tapped his wand on it and muttered, "_Portus," _before looking at Remus. "Go with them, both of you," he gestured to Helen. "I'm going to ride the train and make sure it gets to Hogsmeade…"

Remus nodded, taking the portkey from the other wizard, guiding Lily's and James' fingers to it while they gripped their son tightly. The moment Helen had returned from speaking to Hermione, and she touched the object in Remus' hand, platform 9 ¾ vanished and they reappeared moments later in the waiting room of St. Mungo's.

* * *

"What about Harry?" Caleb demanded loudly as Sirius physically set him on the train.

"Harry's going to be fine," Sirius muttered automatically. "Go find a compartment and stay there."

Hermione climbed aboard and touched Caleb's shoulder. "Come on, I'll sit with you."

"I can't go!" Piper announced, sitting on a bench near the train door.

"I'll bring you back home when the train gets to Hogwarts, Piper," Sirius said, bending down to pick her up. "But for now you have to stay with me."

The little girl rested her head on Sirius' shoulder. "Where'd my mummy and daddy go?"

Sirius sighed, finding the compartment where he'd left Tonks to recover from being stunned. She immediately opened her mouth to find out what had happened, but he shook his head, nodding pointedly to Piper as he closed the compartment door and sat himself. "Harry had a bit of an accident, so your mum and dad took him to get healed."

"Oh."

Sirius glanced over at his purple-haired cousin. "You all right?"

She nodded, looking very annoyed at herself. "I didn't see them, Sirius," she said pleadingly.

"I know," he responded, hoping to stop her before she said too much in front of Piper. "We'll talk about it later. Get some rest."

* * *

"I can't explain it," said the resident Healer after his initial examination of Harry. "The curse certainly seems to have connected, he was knocked out—he even seems to have stopped breathing for a short time—but he is in fact alive."

James didn't know whether to be relieved or more concerned by the tone in the wizard's voice. "Will he be okay?"

The Healer, Smith, James recalled, sighed. "I don't know. You're an Auror, Potter, you know how often people survive this curse. Whatever happened to your boy, he was damn lucky. We'll need him to remain here for some time. In the meantime, is there anything I can get any of you?"

James shook his head, not looking away from Harry's face. "No, we're fine."

Healer Smith nodded, gave a small, baffled smile to Remus and Helen, and left the room.

"What do we do now?" Lily asked, sinking into a chair and immediately reaching for Harry's hand.

James took his son's other hand and tried not to wince at how cold it felt. "I don't know," he muttered. "People don't survive this curse, Lily. He did."

"What's that on his forehead?" Remus asked hoarsely from the foot of the bed.

James looked up and found a puddle of dried blood between Harry's eyebrows. "I don't know." He turned around, searching for the jug of ice water he'd noticed upon his entrance. Seeming to read his mind, Helen handed him a handkerchief. He managed a thankful smile before dipping a corner of the cloth in the water and returning to Harry, gently wiping away the blood. A few minutes later, the four adults were staring at a rather deep looking cut in the shape of a lightning bolt. "What the hell?" James looked over at Remus, wondering why his best friend had so suddenly gripped the bottom rail of the bed for dear life and why he looked ready to pass out.

He pushed the thought aside when he heard a small sigh escape Harry's lips. "Harry?" he whispered, leaning closer to his son. "You're all right, your mum and I are here… You're in St. Mungo's. Just relax, okay?"

Whether Harry had heard him, he had no idea, but the boy sighed again and seemed to relax, and James decided to take that as evidence that he had.

Remus cleared his throat. "I should contact Dumbledore," he said, his voice oddly strained.

James merely nodded. He could figure out what was going on with his friend later.

At some point, Helen also excused herself, promising to return with tea. James looked across his unconscious son's body to where his wife was staring at the boy's face.

"What happened to him, James?" Lily asked in a whisper, not looking away from Harry.

"I don't know," he responded honestly. "But he'll be all right. He's alive and that's matters. Right?"

She nodded.

_Now I just have to convince myself…_

_

* * *

_**AN: **Yes, this does count as a character death. No, I'm not going to tell you _how_ it counts. Now please pick up your jaws and review. Have a pleasant evening.


	12. Twelve

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Twelve_

This, Harry Potter decided immediately, was a very strange room. Not only was it long, dark, and cold, but there weren't any suggestions telling him this was the right place to be. As he walked, he tried to remember what had happened to him. Every time he got to the point where he was teasing Remus about Ms. Snowe, things seemed to go grainy and fuzzy and there was a strange buzzing noise filling his ears.

Up ahead, after what seemed like several days' walk, Harry spotted a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Ignoring everything he'd ever heard about death and seeing a bright light at the end of a tunnel, he continued towards it—_he_ wasn't dead at any rate. Finally he arrived in the light and stopped in his tracks to stare at the person at his feet.

It was _him_. But it couldn't be—he wasn't dead—

Several seconds of panicked thinking later, Harry realized that this was the _other_ Harry, the boy whose world he had fallen into weeks ago, whose life he was living. Whose life he had just ended.

"I'm sorry," he heard himself saying as he knelt down beside the boy. "I didn't mean for this to happen, I didn't want you to die!"

"Yeah, but if it wasn't for you, neither of us would be alive."

Harry jumped to his feet and spun around, searching for his wand, though he knew somewhere deep down he didn't actually need it. "What do you mean?"

What looked to be a ghost of himself—or maybe it was one of those echoes he'd seen in the graveyard in June when he'd dueled Voldemort—walked forward, joining him beside the body. "Think about it." Even his voice sounded like a distant echo. "There were two of us in there. That bastard used the Killing Curse—you heard the words. If I'd been alone, my parents would not be leaning over me in St. Mungo's as we speak."

"What does that mean for me?"

The echo shrugged. "Couldn't tell you, mate. But obviously there's a reason for this, right? Remus always told me things happen for a reason, even ridiculous things like some doppelganger from another universe taking over my life." He grinned. "What was it they called you back in your world? The Boy-Who-Lived? Well, guess what, you're back."

"Brilliant." Harry sat back on the floor and looked at the echo of his other self miserably. "I'm really sorry this happened to you."

"You didn't cause it," the echo said gruffly. "You didn't wake up this morning and say 'Okay, I want to completely control this bloke's life, how about it?' And really, this is going to keep Mum and Piper from being really upset and anything that does that can't be all bad, right?"

Harry nodded. "Where will you go?"

The echo pointed some distance ahead. "Up there, I reckon. Seems like a nice place. Maybe your parents in your universe will be there…" The two boys stared straight ahead while Harry pretended he didn't hear his echo sniffling or see him rub at his eyes. "Do one thing for me, will you?"

Harry nodded. "Of course."

"Take care of my family. I never really told them how much I love them, and I should have." The echo shook his hair out of his eyes and grinned. "And while you're at it, give old Moldywart a taste of his own medicine, eh?"

Harry burst out laughing. When he got control of himself again, he realized the echo was moving further down the tunnel. "You got it!"

The echo looked over his shoulder long enough to give Harry a quick wave before he headed into the light and disappeared.

* * *

Remus entered the tea room at St. Mungo's and looked around a moment before heading across the room to the woman sitting at the table. She looked up and tried to smile as he sat, but couldn't quite manage it.

"What did Dumbledore say?"

He sighed as she reached across the table and took his hand. "Well, in typical Dumbledore fashion, he seems to know things the rest of us don't and he's not quite ready to share his theories." He tried not to sound bitter about this, but he had as much trouble with that as Helen had had with smiling. "This isn't normal," he muttered darkly.

She snorted. "You're telling me," she muttered. "I saw him take the Killing Curse. It happened before I could do a thing about it and now to see him still breathing…"

"What did you tell Hermione?"

"That she needed to get on the train and I'd try to explain things to her later."

"Are you going to be able?"

"Are you going to be able to explain things to me first?"

"Touché." Remus finally managed a small grin. "Everybody saw what happened and even if they didn't see it firsthand, they certainly saw the results. Harry should be dead."

"But he's not."

He nodded. "And I think that's what has me the most confused…" He snorted. "Though I'm not sure it should." Something had just popped into his mind, something only he and Dumbledore knew about; he had a feeling it explained everything.

Helen's eyebrows rose. "What do you mean by that?"

He sighed. "I'll try to explain later, once I've had a chance to have a proper discussion with Dumbledore."

She nodded, but her brown eyes were still watching him closely.

To avoid thinking about Harry for as long as possible, Remus thought back over the unlikely relationship he'd struck with Hermione Granger's aunt. He had met the girl herself during Hogsmeade weekends in his shop. Remus had made it a point when Harry became a third year to work on those weekends and though it wasn't often that Harry left Zonko's or the Three Broomsticks long enough to come say hello to him, Remus still enjoyed those weekends. Hermione had come in on her very first visit to the village and had planted herself in one of the armchairs with a stack of books until it was time for her to return to school.

Over the months, Remus would strike up small conversations with her, finding out that she didn't really have many friends at school, that she was Muggleborn, though her aunt on her mother's side was a witch. This was possibly what had kept Remus interested in the girl, though she was intriguing in and of herself. He hadn't known Helen Snowe himself, since she'd gone to Beauxbatons for her magical education, though she'd moved to England when Hermione was just a baby to be nearer to her family. He'd mentioned this to Hermione, and that summer, she'd walked through the front door of his shop, her aunt in tow.

Remus' immediate reaction to seeing Helen had been surprise—Hermione wasn't exactly ugly, but her aunt was gorgeous (at least, to Remus; to his everlasting relief, she wasn't Sirius' type). The two of them had started by discussing Hermione and some of the subjects they were most interested in, and the afternoon had ended with Remus' asking Helen to join him at James' and Lily's house a few evenings later for dinner. Since that dinner, where Helen and Lily had hit it off immediately, his redheaded friend had been relentless in trying to get them dating.

It wasn't until about a year ago, after Lily had urged him to do so, that he had even told Helen about his being a werewolf. To his immense surprise, instead of running away from him screaming at the top of her lungs that the monster was going to get her, she'd sat back thoughtfully in her chair and surveyed him for several minutes before announcing that it was about time he told her. Remus still hadn't found out how she'd known—she seemed to enjoy making him guess.

Since that revelation, the two of them had become rather good friends, even going out on their own occasionally, and though Remus was well aware that Helen was waiting for him to make their friendship something more, he had still been hesitant. It seemed much too good to be true. What were the chances that one werewolf could find both an entire group of friends who didn't blink twice when they found out what he was and a woman he enjoyed being around who also didn't care?

The night before, she had invited him over for dinner with her and Hermione and afterwards, while Hermione was packing her trunk, Helen had sat him down and told him flat out that they'd waited long enough, they both wanted more than a platonic relationship and what was the point in waiting any longer? Remus had started to argue, at which point Helen had pinned him against the kitchen counter and kissed him more deeply than he'd ever been kissed. He'd stayed the night with her, though nothing more than cuddles and late night discussions had occurred—Remus wasn't looking forward to mentioning any of the details to James or Sirius; they'd never let him live it down.

_Then again, my spending the night somewhere that isn't my own home is the least of anybody's worries right now…_

"There's Sirius."

Remus jumped at the sound of Helen's voice and turned around to find Sirius standing at the door of the tea room, a sleeping Piper in his arms, looking for them. Helen waved him over. "I take it the train got to Hogsmeade safely?" Remus asked, reaching over as Sirius sat down to brush some of Piper's hair out of her eyes.

Sirius nodded. "Whatever they were doing there in the first place, they seemed to have taken care of it," he said in a low voice. "Half the professors at the school met us down at the train station and walked with the carriages—this is the first year in a very long time Hagrid didn't take the first years across the lake."

"Considering what happened before they even boarded the train, I can't say I blame them," Remus said dully.

"How's Harry?"

"Last we saw, he's still unconscious," Remus told him. "The Healers are completely baffled by it. They don't know where to even begin treating him."

"But he's alive."

"He's alive," Remus confirmed.

"Good." Sirius leaned back in his chair. "Dumbledore said he'd be here after the feast. He wants to see Harry for himself."

"He probably won't be the only one." Helen leaned forward a little bit. "What do you think is going to happen when the _Daily Prophet_ gets wind of this? And as soon as he recovers well enough, he has to go back to school, and if I remember my school days at all, this will be all they're talking about."

Remus sighed. "We'll deal with that when it comes," he said firmly. "In the meantime, we need to take care of Lily and James and Piper—how's Caleb?"

"Pissed," Sirius replied with a small grin. "Hagrid actually had to lift him up and carry him to a carriage just so I could get enough room to Disapparate. For now, Hogwarts is the best place for him—his friends will keep an eye on him and what good would it do having him here? Once Harry's feeling better, I'm sure Dumbledore will let him visit, but until then…"

Helen sighed and stood. "We should take James and Lily something to drink and eat. Even if they're not hungry now, once the shock of today wears off, they will be."

The wizards agreed, and Remus took Piper from Sirius' arms, while Sirius himself helped Helen buy and wrap up a large plate of sandwiches and several mugs of tea. They returned to Harry's room, arriving in the middle of yet another examination by several Healers. Lily and James were standing back a little to let them work, occasionally answering questions directed at them. James looked over his shoulder when the door opened and waved for his friends lingering in the doorway that it was okay to enter.

One of the Healers stood up straight. "When was the last time Harry took any type of potion?" he asked Lily and James.

"It's been a while," Lily said, obviously trying to think back over recent weeks. "June, maybe—he had an accident on the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts and he had to take Skele-gro for some of his injuries."

"It was the other day," Remus corrected her. Everyone turned to him. "During the, er… _incident…_"

Lily's eyes widened as she remembered. "That's right. I gave him protection draught, because our house was being attacked…"

The Healer nodded. "And the time before that would have been the Skele-gro?" he asked.

Lily nodded. "He hates taking potions, he always has. The only time we could ever get him to take anything even for a little cold was when he was unconscious or we were so worried that he took it without asking…"

"Hmm…" The Healer's brow furrowed as he thought. "Well, there seem to be some lingering traces of some sort of potion, but it's much older than even June."

"What do you think it is?" James asked anxiously.

"I'm not sure," the Healer replied grimly. "We'll have to run a few more tests to really determine what it could be. Mr. and Mrs. Potter, you have to understand that this is going to take some time to figure out. Nobody has ever seen a case like Harry's, not even close, and it's going to be some time before we can give you any real answers."

Lily and James nodded resignedly. Remus felt his heart tug for them; there couldn't be anything worse than knowing someone you loved more than life itself had been through the impossible and that there was nothing you could do but wait and see how the events played out.

A few minutes later, the Healer assured the Potters he would return later on and left the room. Nobody spoke for some time as James and Lily watched their son sleep. Only when Sirius shuffled a little from where he stood beside Remus and Helen did their friends even seem to realize they were there. Lily hurried over to Remus and took Piper from him, smiling at him as she carried her daughter to an armchair by the window. Helen joined her, leaving Sirius and Remus to sit across from James at Harry's bedside.

"Where were you and Tonks?" asked James so quietly that Remus thought he'd imagined it at first. Sirius looked at his friend in surprise, finding James' face hard, bordering on anger. "You were supposed to make sure there was nobody on that bloody train."

"We were!" Sirius whispered back, glancing over his shoulder to see whether Lily was listening in. She wasn't. "Tonks was Stunned from behind and by the time I found her, my attention was far from worrying about the train anymore. Then Malfoy—"

"Malfoy?" James asked sharply. "Malfoy was there?"

Sirius nodded. "And I had no idea until he disarmed me," he said. "There wasn't anything I could have done."

"You could have sent a warning," James murmured, his anger ebbing away slowly.

"I was busy making sure Tonks was still alive."

James ignored this. "My son could have died," he said through gritted teeth. "Both my sons, my daughter, and my wife."

"James, I know," Sirius tried to say.

"No, you don't know, Sirius!" James hissed. "You think you do, but you don't. You didn't _see_ him, Sirius. You didn't see what he looked like, crumpled up on the ground, lifeless, thinking you were never going to see him smile or laugh again. That was the worst thing I've ever seen as an Auror—not even as an Auror, as a human being. Everything slows down and all you can think about is how you used to hold him in your lap and hug him and comfort him. My son should be _dead_ right now, Sirius. Explain to me why he's not!"

Sirius gulped. "I can't," he said hoarsely.

James nodded, looking back down at his son. "So don't try to tell me you know what I'm going through," he said dully.

Sirius stood up silently and left the room. Knowing it wouldn't do any good to go after him, Remus remained where he was, trying to decide whether it would help or hurt to remind James how much Sirius loved his godson. He finally decided to wait until James had had time to calm down a bit more.

At some point, medi-witches arrived with extra beds for those determined to stay the night with Harry. Lily lay down on one with Piper almost before the other witches had left, and fell fast asleep within minutes.

"She's in shock," Helen told Remus quietly when James went to use the bathroom. "I think we all are to some degree."

Remus nodded in agreement. "Look, you don't have to stay if you don't want to," he told her. "You've probably got better things to do…"

Helen only rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Remus," she replied, nudging him gently in the shoulder. "They're my friends too, unless you've forgotten."

Remus smiled as she took his hand tightly in her own, not wanting to admit how much of a relief it was that she wasn't going to leave right now.

James returned just as the hospital room door opened, and he, Remus, and Helen all turned to see Dumbledore entering, looking very grave.

"Albus," James said, standing to shake the Headmaster's hand. "Thank you for coming."

"Not at all, James," Dumbledore replied, giving Remus and Helen a small smile. "How is he?"

James sighed and fell back into his chair. "Alive," he responded flatly. "That's about all we know right now."

"And that is the only thing that matters right now," Dumbledore said sternly, looking at James over his half-moon spectacles. "It is much preferred to the alternative."

James nodded fervently in agreement. For the first time all day, Remus really saw how exhausted his friend looked. Once Dumbledore left, he would insist that James get some rest himself.

With Remus' help, James explained the day's events to Dumbledore, obviously hoping that the older wizard might have more input than the Healers had been giving them. Unfortunately, Dumbledore seemed just as clueless as the rest of them, or that was the front he was presenting to James.

After promising to look into what had happened to Harry, Dumbledore looked over at Remus. "I wonder if you might walk with me to the Floo, Remus?" the Headmaster said. "Just in case I lose my way…"

James didn't seem to hear a word that wasn't in relation to his son. Pressing Helen's hand tightly for a moment, Remus stood and followed Dumbledore out into the corridor. "What do you think, sir?" he asked immediately once the door had shut behind him.

"Are James and Lily yet aware of the phenomenon that occurred in their home some time back?"

Remus shook his head. "Not yet," he answered. "I didn't want to mention anything to them until we had something to really share…"

"I believe the time has arrived that they know the truth." Dumbledore sighed heavily. "From what I have gathered of the day's events, Harry was certainly hit with the Killing Curse. Had there been only one soul residing within his body, he would be dead; however, since his body held two souls, the attack only affected one of them, and the other took over as soon as his body had a moment to recover from the shock."

Remus' brow furrowed. "And which soul was affected?" he asked slowly, trying to ignore the way his heart was starting to pound uncontrollably.

"Until Harry wakes, we cannot know."

* * *

**AN:** Yes, this does mean that Lily and James will find out about the parallel universe thing soon, next chapter actually. Anyone want to theorize on how they'll react? Thank you all so much for all the reviews! Please keep them coming!


	13. Thirteen

_**Through the Cupboard **_

By Neurotica

_Thirteen_

_**Attack On Platform 9 ¾ **_

_For hundreds of years, wizard children have left the Muggle world for the magical one onboard the legendary Hogwarts Express. Never before had it been worrisome for a parent to say goodbye to their child between platforms nine and ten at King's Cross train station in London. Yesterday, all that changed._

_While it is still unclear whether they were allowed access as a result of an oversight by Ministry of Magic officials, several followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, more commonly referred to as Death Eaters, were waiting aboard the Hogwarts Express for students and parents alike to arrive. A team of Aurors, whose names have yet to be released, were set the seemingly simple task of safeguarding the school train and searching for hidden dangers. One Auror, the _Daily Prophet_ has learned, was stunned almost immediately, while another was disarmed nearly as quickly. A battle on the platform commenced, leaving several people with minor injuries and one with serious injuries. _

_Harry Potter, son of Head Auror James Potter, was reportedly hit with the Killing Curse as he attempted to seek safety. Several eyewitnesses confirm this happening, and all were left in shock when, instead of taking their son to the Ministry, James Potter and his wife Lily took a portkey to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Only moments before, a friend of the Potters, whose name cannot be confirmed, was seen and heard running across the platform, shouting that the boy was still alive. _

_Healers in charge of fifteen-year-old Harry Potter decline comment at this time. Many have begun to speculate that if the boy indeed survived a curse that has killed so many over the last two decades alone, he would need to be examined by top Dark Arts experts to determine the reasoning for this…_

* * *

"That didn't take long," Remus said dryly the next morning as he ate breakfast with Sirius. "And what a coincidence that nobody seems to know the names of the Aurors or… what was it… this friend of the Potters."

Sirius snorted. "Not for lack of trying. I spent the entire night in Auror Headquarters fighting off reporters. I'm surprised security here isn't tighter…"

"Who says it isn't?" Remus replied. "Haven't you noticed that the floor Harry is on is rather emptier than usual?"

"No, but then again, I also didn't realize I had those horns on my head in sixth year until Lily almost fell down the stairs laughing about them." Sirius sighed and wiped a hand over his face. "Has James calmed down any?"

Remus shrugged. "He hasn't said much of anything since Dumbledore left. Which reminds me, you're going to want to be here this afternoon just after dinner."

"Why?"

"Just trust me."

Sirius nodded, looking at his friend suspiciously. "Well, why don't you go home and get some sleep yourself. I assume you didn't get much last night."

"You assume right."

"So go home. I'll come wake you up in a few hours."

Though he wanted to argue, the moment he'd opened his mouth, Remus yawned hugely. "Fine, you win."

Chuckling, Sirius stood up and walked Remus as far as the fireplace, promising to inform him of any change of Harry's condition, then turned down another corridor and breathing deeply as though steeling himself up for a fight. _And really, with James in this sort of mood, that may not be far off…_

He located the room almost immediately, then looked around him, trying to confirm Remus' statement earlier about the area being deserted. Save a few Healers and medi-witches talking amongst themselves at the far end of the corridor, it was oddly empty.

_So much the better for us._

Rather cautiously, Sirius pushed open the hospital room door and poked his head through. Once he was certain James wasn't going to attack to him right away, he fully entered the room, locating Lily, Piper, and Helen in a corner eating breakfast. The witches gave him small smiles, and he smiled back, but he needed to talk to James. Predictably, his best friend was in the same exact spot he'd been last time Sirius had seen him—Sirius half-wondered if someone had used a full body-bind on him, but knew his jokes would be very unwelcome right now. Instead, he walked to the other side of Harry's bed and sat down in the available chair.

"Any change?" he asked James after a few silent minutes.

James jumped and blinked rapidly as though he'd fallen asleep with his eyes open. "No," he said crisply. "We thought he was waking up in the middle of the night, but…" He shrugged, then sighed. "Sirius, I'm sorry about yesterday. I know you never would have put any of us in danger and if you could take it back, you would."

"In a heartbeat," Sirius confirmed. "And anyway, if I was in your position, I would have kicked my ass too." James managed a small grin. "Hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and sent a few teams out to Hogwarts just to keep an eye on things for a while. Dumbledore doesn't think anything is going to happen within the castle, but he agrees that they could use the help."

James nodded. "Not a problem," he said hoarsely. "Any luck figuring out who cursed my son?"

Sirius shook his head regretfully. "Either nobody saw who spoke the curse or nobody wants to admit that they saw who spoke the curse."

"The Healers think there might be a way to test the remnants of the magic," James told him. "It isn't always reliable, but when it does work, they can tell what kind of wand—core and all—cast the magic."

"Convenient, that," Sirius said. "That may be something we want to figure out how to work."

"Yeah."

The two wizards fell into a comfortable silence. Sirius was able to push aside the fears he'd had since last night—first he'd lost Peter, then he'd failed in keeping Harry safe, now James was going to hate him because of it.

_At least one of those isn't true._

The day progressed very slowly. Every time Sirius looked at a clock, he swore it'd stopped working. Finally, Lily blasted the only clock in the room off the wall. Sirius tried not to show fear of his friend's wife or his amusement at her reaction—moments later, he glanced over at James and found him shaking in silent laughter over the whole thing.

Sometime in the afternoon, Remus made his appearance. He paused to look oddly at the piece of twisted metal on the floor, and James quickly engaged him in conversation to keep him from setting Lily off again. This, Sirius remembered, was why it was good to have friends. Though they'd all spent the last twenty-four hours fearing for the life of one of their own, they were still able to cheer each other up just a bit over the stupidest things.

_Now if only that would last…_ Sirius thought as one of his godson's Healers walked through the door looking grave. Helen took one look at the wizard's face and quickly offered to take Piper up to the tea room where she was sure she'd seen coloring books. Lily gave her a thankful look as she sat beside James.

"Yesterday, as you may recall," the Healer began at a painfully slow pace—Sirius vaguely recalled the pace one spoke at when they had something bad to report but didn't quite have their words sorted, "I asked about what potions Harry may have taken and mentioned traces of an old one still in his system."

Lily nodded.

"We think we may have identified a few of the key ingredients of this potion."

"And they would be…" James said leadingly.

"Well, that's the strange thing, Mr. Potter. They're not single ingredients, but entire potions."

Lily blinked. "The ingredients of a potion in my son's system are several potions?"

"Yes."

"What potions?"

"Two of them are calming draughts, one is a confusion concoction, and the other we've identified is one used to wipe the drinker's memory of any incidents that occur within three hours before and after the potion is consumed."

The wizards, who weren't fluent in potions, all looked at Lily, who was still staring at the Healer. "As far as I know, my son has never taken any of those potions, except for maybe a calming draught when he was younger… Are you sure those are all in one potion, and not separate potions?"

The Healer sighed. "We're fairly certain," he said. "But if you say he's never been in contact with those potions."

"I'm sure he's been in contact with them," Lily corrected him. "He's going on his fifth year at Hogwarts and I brew potions at home; I've got most of the ingredients that go into those potions in my lab."

"But when was the last time you brewed a confusion concoction?" Sirius asked dubiously.

Lily smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

James cleared his throat to keep Sirius from retorting. "What do you think it means for him to have those potions in his system?" he asked the Healer.

"We're not sure yet. Currently we're trying to work out just how old those traces are; they may give a hint we've missed."

After a quick examination of the unconscious boy in question, the Healer bid them a good day and left.

"Why do they only come in to ask more questions?" James asked after a few silent minutes. "He could be spending this time looking for answers and giving us good news, but no, every time he comes in here, there's more to worry about."

"That's why I hate hospitals," Sirius said emphatically. "The Muggle ones are even worse, you know. They can't just walk into a room, wave a wand, and know what's wrong with you. They use needles and draw blood… And if you broke your leg, they stick you in this little room and send beams of radiation into you just so you can see that you do indeed have a broken bone."

"Sirius, you're not helping," Remus said dully.

"And I think you've been spending too much time with Arthur Weasley over lunch," James put in. He sighed and looked up at the wall where the clock had once been. "What time is it?"

Lily looked at her watch. "Quarter to six. Dumbledore should be here soon."

"Any idea what he wants to talk to us about?" James asked the room at large.

Sirius had to be the only one who saw Remus stiffen. "No idea," Sirius told his friend, glancing sideways at Remus.

Luckily their wait wouldn't be a long one. About five minutes after Lily and James returned from getting a sandwich, the Hogwarts Headmaster walked through the door, no smile on his face. Sirius decided immediately that he wasn't looking forward to this discussion.

After his initial questioning on how Harry was doing, Dumbledore conjured a chair at the foot of the bed and crossed his fingers beneath his beard. Glancing at Sirius and Remus, he addressed Lily and James. "Would you prefer this be a private conversation?" he asked politely. Sirius was quite aware that Dumbledore wasn't suggesting he and Remus leave, merely giving Harry's parents the opportunity if they so wished.

To his relief, James shook his head. "Anything you're going to tell us, we'll tell them eventually," he said heavily. "Might as well make short work of it."

Dumbledore nodded. "Of course." He sat forward importantly. "What do the four of you know about parallel universes?"

* * *

Caleb walked slowly from the Great Hall, only vaguely paying attention to where he was going. Since he'd boarded the Hogwarts Express yesterday, he'd been listening to whispers about how his brother had died. Everywhere he went, people were asking him about Harry and telling him how sorry for his loss they were. Only when Hermione Granger had told everyone to leave him alone last evening could he sit in the Gryffindor common room in semi-peace.

Even the teachers were treating him oddly. Professor Flitwick had slipped him a package of licorice wands and patted him consolingly on the arm. McGonagall had excused him from that day's lesson after the third time he'd turned his beetle into a zipper instead of a button. And even Snape was, in his own way, being nice to him. That day during potions, Caleb had mistaken his eel spleen for puffer-fish eyes and had somehow filled the room with some sort of noxious gas that made everyone who breathed it giddy. Once Snape had stopped giggling (which was _not_ something Caleb had ever wanted to see), he'd only taken twenty points from Gryffindor, instead of the usual fifty for a mistake on that level.

He hadn't heard anything from his family after Hagrid had dragged him away from Sirius last night, and he wasn't sure he wanted to hear from them right now. Caleb knew what he'd seen. He knew damn well what the Killing Curse looked like—bright green light that seemed to liquefy as it hit its target. He had also seen Harry fall to the ground. But then, he'd also run over the moment Remus had announced that Harry was still alive and breathing. Nobody else in the school seemed to take any real meaning from this; maybe the Potters were just a little too optimistic with taking their son to St. Mungo's.

"Caleb, you're going too far!" a voice called.

The second year stopped and looked over his shoulder. Hermione was standing several feet behind him, holding the portrait leading into the Gryffindor common room open. He backtracked and managed to give her a small smile. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

The moment he stepped foot in the common room, all activity seemed to cease. Caleb wasn't sure if this was because he'd arrived or if they were simply afraid Hermione would curse them if they upset Caleb. He preferred to think the latter.

"Need any help with your homework?" Hermione asked, leading the way to a sofa.

Caleb shook his head as he sat beside her. "Nobody gave me any," he replied.

Sighing, Hermione opened her schoolbag and removed some of her own homework. "Want to help me with mine?" she asked wryly.

Caleb grinned, thankful that someone was treating him normally at least. "Sure, what do you have?"

"Know anything about Arithmancy?"

"Not a lot, but I do want to take it next year."

"Well, come here, I'll show you how to do it."

With Hermione's help, Caleb was finally able to completely relax; by the time he went to bed hours later, he fell asleep almost immediately. Unlike the night before, he only pictured Harry crumpling to the ground on Platform 9 ¾ for a few seconds before falling into his more normal dreams.

* * *

_A parallel universe. A copy of my son falling into our world into my son's body. And Dumbledore thinks the reason the Killing Curse didn't kill him is because one of the two souls in my son's body died, keeping the other soul and body alive. _

James Potter was confused. And scared. For almost two days now, he'd been sitting beside the bed that he believed held his firstborn son, and now he'd just found out that the person in his firstborn's body might not actually _be_ his firstborn. Of course, Dumbledore had no idea how the "other" Harry got into their world in the first place, but he had known Harry, James Potter's Harry, had been possessed by this other boy for nearly a month. And he never found any reason to tell Harry's parents.

_What if that other Harry was some trick of Voldemort's and he got up in the middle of the night and killed us all? What if that other Harry planned this whole insane scenario for no other reason than getting rid of this world's Harry, _my_ Harry, and taking over his body?_

"You knew."

James' head snapped up. Only now did he realize that Dumbledore had left the room. Lily sat beside him, leaned back in her chair, much paler than James could ever remember seeing her, and her mouth wide open. Across from them, Sirius, just as pale, stared directly at Remus.

"What?" Remus said, startled.

"You knew what Dumbledore was going to tell us." Sirius' eyes never left Remus. "You knew about this… this… _parallel world_. About Harry. Didn't you?"

James' blood ran cold. For his old friend's safety, he hoped Remus had the right response to this question.

"Yes." The answer was practically whispered.

"How long?" Sirius asked, his voice tense.

Remus sighed, looking at his feet. "Since about a week after it happened."

"And you didn't tell us!" James had no idea when he'd stood up, nor that he could shout so loudly. "You knew all along and you didn't say a goddamn word!"

Remus was on his feet as well. "How was I supposed to tell you that a boy from another _universe_ was now sharing your son's body, James?" he shot back. "You would have had him arrested and sent to Azkaban before he could blink an eye, and neither Dumbledore nor myself knew how this happened or how to reverse it! For all we knew, if we tried to separate the souls, it would have killed _both _of them!"

"Yeah, for all you knew," James sneered. "Now one of them _is _dead and the most likely one for it to be is _my son!"_

"He's still your son!"

"That is _not_ my son," James spat, pointing at the unconscious boy in the bed. "That's just some kid who _looks_ like my son! My son is _DEAD!_"

"We don't know that!"

"Get out."

Remus blinked at the sudden change of volume. "What?"

James looked at him, using every ounce of self control not to take out his wand and curse his friend. "I said," he began through clenched teeth, "_Get. out."_

Looking appealingly at Sirius and Lily—Sirius was looking anywhere but at James and Remus, while Lily seemed too busy staring at Harry to have heard a word—Remus nodded. "Fine. But you're making a big mistake, James."

Without looking back, Remus walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

**AN: **Yes, I'm evil. Yes, I love my cliffhangers. No, I will not update again if you don't review. By the way, this story probably won't be too much longer (somewhere between fifteen to twenty chapters, I think), but if you ask me super nicely, I might begin to think about possibly considering maybe contemplating writing a sequel. But that's only if you ask me super nicely.


	14. Fourteen

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Fourteen_

Remus sat in the living room of his small Keighley flat, a glass of whiskey in his hand, staring at the bookshelf that held several pictures of his friends and family. For hours, he'd been trying to convince himself that he'd done the right thing in not telling Lily and James what had been going on with their son. Harry hadn't done anything to deserve this, he certainly hadn't wanted it, and if he had known of a way to fix all this, Remus was certain he would have.

James was grieving, he told himself over and over. He was a father grieving for the loss of the son he'd known for fifteen years. It had been bad enough seeing him yesterday on the platform breaking down—it was very rare for that to happen—but then to get up his hopes with the knowledge that his son might actually be alive against all odds, just to have them dashed again by the discovery that the boy who had survived might not in fact be the child he doted on, gave Remus an understanding of where James' reaction was coming from.

_But if it keeps up like this..._

_What? _asked a voice in the back of Remus' mind. _He's going to see what horrible things he's done and regret every minute of it? Come off it. He just lost his son twice in two days. It's going to take nothing short of a miracle to make him see reason._

Remus was very tempted to tell the voice, which sounded suspiciously like Sirius, to shut up.

Before he got the chance, though, there was a knock on his door. The wizard looked up at the door with raised eyebrows, then looked at the clock on his wall. It was past midnight.

_Who in the bloody hell..._

"Remus Lupin, I know you're in there, and if you don't open this door soon, I will break it down," said a cool female voice outside the door.

Immediately, Remus set aside his drink and stood up to let Lily in. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm not allowed to come see a friend?" she replied blandly. "James is being impossible right now and I didn't know where to go."

Remus nodded and gestured for her to have a seat. "Would you like a drink?" he offered.

"I think you've had enough for both of us," she teased, gesturing at the half-empty bottle on the end table.

Remus sat down beside her and sighed. "I know you didn't come here to admonish my drinking habits, Lily."

"No, I didn't. I came here to admonish your habits of not telling me or my husband about things to do with our son."

"James got the message through, I think," he said dully.

"He doesn't speak for both of us." She shook her head. "Remus, why didn't you just _tell_ us?"

"What would you have done?" he replied gently. "This boy didn't ask for this to happen to himself or to your son, and he's not evil or a menace. He's a fifteen-year-old boy who, in his own world, doesn't have a family who loves him the way you love your son. The number of times he's faced Voldemort on his own and lived to tell the tale..." Remus sighed when Lily looked close to tears. "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. All I'm saying is that none of us, Harry included—either Harry—saw this coming. And I'm sure that if given the chance, he would have taken it back. So if you and James are going to hate somebody over this, hate me, not him."

* * *

The first thing that registered in Harry Potter's mind when he regained consciousness was that the level of pain he was currently experiencing was higher than he'd thought possible. He ached all over, even in places he didn't know he could feel pain. Movement was nearly impossible at the present time; opening an eyelid just a sliver had made him feel like his eyes were embedded with little pieces of glass.

Only a few things seemed to be functioning correctly in Harry's body—his ears and his brain. He'd spent nearly an hour during Dumbledore's visit trying not to give away that he was awake, and he was especially glad he hadn't made any noise when he heard his father's argument with Remus.

At some point between that moment and this, a medi-witch had come in and administered a painkilling potion that now allowed Harry to open his eyes fully and look around the dark, empty hospital room.

"_That is_ not_ my son! That's just_ _some kid who _looks_ like my son! My son is _DEAD!_"_

Every time he stopped thinking, these were the words that appeared in Harry's mind. He should have known this whole thing was too good to be true—for once in his miserable life, he was happy and normal and loved. But he'd never been loved here. They loved the other Harry, the boy who'd died on Platform 9 ¾.

But now that boy was gone, and Harry was alone again, more alone than he'd ever been in his life. For the first time since the whole thing happened, he wanted nothing more than to be back on Privet Drive. He knew where he stood there. His relatives had always hated him for merely being himself. He wasn't a murderer there...

Harry hastily wiped at his eyes as the hospital room door opened and a wizard with long white hair and matching beard entered. "Professor Dumbledore," he said in surprise, wincing at how hoarse his voice was.

The wizard looked at him and smiled. "Ah, hello, Harry," he said, closing the door softly behind him. He crossed the room and sat in the chair James had inhabited for the last two days. "How are you feeling?"

"Horrible," Harry replied croakily.

"Very understandable." Dumbledore looked around idly while Harry tried to wipe his eyes again. "I know you may not be ready to talk, but I think it may be important."

Harry nodded. He'd learned at the end of June that it was better to get out what needed to be said as soon as possible. "I didn't want this to happen." He wished he didn't sound so childish.

"Nobody has said that they did."

"My dad may as well have just said it," he said bitterly. "I know he was thinking it."

"James is under a great deal of stress at the moment," Dumbledore said gently. "He is known to act rashly under certain circumstances. I must ask, Harry, which boy you are—the Harry Potter from this world or the visiting one."

"Visiting," Harry murmured, bunching his bedclothes in his fists. "I don't even know how I got here!"

"Shh," Dumbledore said consolingly as Harry's voice rose in pitch. "I was not making any accusations, merely questioning where we currently stand."

Harry sighed heavily. "Professor?" he asked very hesitantly.

"Harry?"

The boy took a deep breath and let it out very slowly, certain he was imagining that a little sliver of light from the hallway shone on the wall beside the door. "Do you do you think my parents will come see me?"

* * *

Lily walked slowly through the corridors of St. Mungo's, thinking hard. Remus had made several good points when she'd visited him—namely the one about how this boy hadn't planned for any of this to happen, least of all for Lily and James' oldest son to die. She hadn't yet sat down and really thought about what was going on; she knew that when she did, she wouldn't be able to do anything else for several days.

First, though, she wanted answers.

She had no idea what she would say to the boy who had lived in their home for a month, posing as her son. In hindsight, she'd been completely right in thinking something was off with Harry—he wasn't the Harry she'd raised. She'd hoped her son's maturity had just kicked in all of a sudden; his behavior with Caleb had turned around completely, he helped out with household chores at every chance he got without being asked or complaining, and his attitude towards Lavender Brown was finally where Lily wished it had been months ago. One thought seemed to be pushing to the forefront of her mind, and she kept shoving it back, but it seemed to be leaking again.

_He's the boy I'd hoped he would be when he was born._

Immediately, Lily felt a stab of regret hit her heart. She couldn't think like that. Her son was gone, and there wasn't any way to bring him back.

_But what point is there letting two lives go to waste?_ asked one part of her mind. _This Harry needs a family too, if what Remus said was true._ She stopped in her pacing to shudder before resuming. _I couldn't imagine any of my children living with Petunia. And who knows how long he'll be here? _

_First things first, Lily, you have to talk to him if he's awake, that is..._

Resolutely, Lily turned down a corridor and walked at a pace that would be difficult for her to change if her mind suddenly decided against this decision. Outside Harry's hospital room, she took a deep breath and started to open the door, but stopped immediately when she heard two voices she hadn't expected to hear. Not only did it seem that Harry had finally awakened, but Dumbledore was aware of this fact before Lily or James. She paused to listen to the conversation.

"Professor?" Harry asked very hesitantly.

"Harry?"

Another long pause, then, "Do you do you think my parents will come see me?"

Lily was feeling her heart break at how desperate and timid the boy's voice sounded. She wanted nothing more than to burst into the room and hold Harry in her arms for the next six months, whether he was the one she'd raised or not.

Dumbledore answered before she could make up her mind. "Unfortunately, I don't believe they will. Not right now."

A weary sigh. "It's all right," Harry said, his tone trying for nonchalance and achieving only resignation. "I'm used to being alone by now."

Unable to do anything else at the moment, Lily let the door close softly before leaving the hospital.

* * *

The next morning, not long after James left for work, Lily went to the fireplace and tossed in a few pinches of Floo powder into the flames before speaking Remus' address and sticking her head into the green fire. When the spinning stopped, Lily took a few deep breaths to make sure she wasn't going to be ill, then called out Remus' name.

It was a moment or two before she heard any signs of life in the small flat, but Remus finally appeared, looking as though Lily had interrupted his shower. "Lily, is something wrong?" He kneeled down in front of the fire.

"No, nothing's wrong," she assured him quickly. "I just..." She sighed. "I wondered if you could come watch Piper for a little while. I want to go out to Hogwarts to check something."

She was well aware the tone of her voice suggested there was a lot she wasn't telling, but it didn't matter at the moment. Remus looked at her suspiciously for a moment before nodding. "Of course," he finally said. "I'll be there in a few minutes, I just need to grab a shirt."

"Thanks," she said with a small smile. Remus got up and headed down the hall to his bedroom, and Lily pulled her head out of the fire. She hadn't slept even a minute all night. Upon arriving home after visiting St. Mungo's, she'd discovered James had fallen asleep in his study at his desk, his fingers curled loosely around a bottle of firewhiskey. Instead of waking him, she'd poked her head in the living room to find Sirius asleep on the sofa and Piper fast asleep in her own bed. She then spent the entire night lying in her bedroom in the dark, thinking.

Nobody had really sat down and wondered about the potion Healers had found traces of in Harry's body. Racking her brain, she hadn't been able to come up with a potion she knew of that consisted of other potions as ingredients. The complexity of such a potion was huge—the brewer would have to tend to several potions at once, making sure they were brewed perfectly to have the correct effect on the main potion.

_And what exactly would be the effect made by the individual potions mixed together like that in a single cauldron? _

There was something in the very back of her mind, fighting to get out, but she wasn't able to bring it to the forefront just yet. Whatever it was, Lily had a feeling it might solve everything, or at least offer several explanations.

She jumped suddenly as the orange flames in the fireplace turned green and quickly backed up so Remus had room to step out. He smiled as he wiped some of the soot off his clothes—it disappeared the moment it hit the carpet. "How's James?" he asked, coming to sit beside Lily on the sofa.

She sighed. "Same," she replied dully. "From what I could tell, he drank himself unconscious in his study and this morning, he didn't say a word before he left for the Ministry. I'm just relieved Sirius was here to keep an eye on Piper."

Remus nodded. "So what interesting thing are you hoping to find at Hogwarts?"

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly. "A stop at the hospital will be first, though—I want a word with Harry's Healers."

"May I ask what about?"

She remained silent for a few moments, trying to decide whether she wanted to share her thoughts right now. "I'll tell you later," she promised, "once I've had the chance to figure a few things out."

"Fair enough." Remus stood with a groan and Lily realized just how quickly the full moon was approaching—only a week from now, if she recalled. "Where's Piper?"

"Playing in her room. She's already eaten breakfast so you don't have to worry about that. But I'm not sure how long I'll be, so if lunchtime rolls around..."

Remus nodded. "I'll feed her. Nothing more than fifty percent sugar."

Lily stood and kissed Remus' cheek. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Not only for this, but for our discussion last night."

"Don't mention it. Good luck with whatever you're doing."

She smiled before heading back to the fireplace and tossing in yet another few pinches of Floo powder. As she stepped into the green flames, she shot Remus another smile and said, "St. Mungo's Hospital, reception area."

Moments later, she was stepping onto the tiled floor of the hospital waiting room. Not bothering to sign in—she wouldn't be here long—she headed to the stairs and climbed to the fourth floor, the spell damage ward. Nobody knew where to put Harry upon his arrival, but technically speaking, his condition was the result of a spell...

Lily quickly pushed her thoughts aside and stepped out into the corridor before seeking out the small area where Healers and medi-witches gathered behind a counter. She found the Healer in charge of Harry immediately reading something on a roll of parchment that reached his feet.

"Healer Smith?" she said hesitantly, not wanting to interrupt his work.

The wizard quickly looked up and smiled when he spotted Lily. "Mrs. Potter. We were just wondering where you and your family had gone."

Giving him a strained smile, Lily nodded. "We decided we wanted to sleep in our own beds last night," she lied.

"Understandable," Healer Smith said. "Well, you'll be pleased to hear that your son has been regaining consciousness over the last several hours—he was even able to hold down small amounts of food."

"That's wonderful," Lily said, trying once again to smile. "But I wanted to talk to you about something, preferably in private"

Surprise was evident on the Healer's face. "Certainly." He tapped his wand on the parchment he'd been reading, rolling it up tightly and sealing it to keep it closed. Setting it aside, he muttered a few words to a medi-witch, who looked curiously at Lily before nodding. "Right this way, Mrs. Potter. We can speak in my office."

"Thank you," she replied quietly. "And please, call me Lily."

"As you wish, Lily," Smith said, bowing his head politely as he held open the door to his office. "Please make yourself comfortable. Would you care for tea?"

"No thank you," she replied, sitting in a chair in front of Smith's desk. "I just wanted to ask you whether you've discovered anything more about the potion you found in Harry's system."

"Ah," Smith said with a sigh as he sat in the chair behind his desk. "The only thing we've discovered is how incredibly complex it really is. Not only are the ingredients some of the rarest there are, but there seemed to be some sort of time-release brewed into it as well. We haven't yet figured out whether this was a charm or perhaps a combination of ingredients that caused this, but it is meant to disguise the other ingredients from being detected by magic." He sighed again, looking very grim. "Though I have yet to confirm this, I believe there is another ingredient going into this potion."

"What?"

"How familiar are you, Lily, with the Draught of the Living Dead?"

* * *

Lily Apparated to Hogsmeade village and walked up to Hogwarts in a daze.

_Draught of the Living bloody Dead. As far as I know, Harry's never brewed the potion, let alone drunk it. _

She thought over the rest of the discussion she'd had with Healer Smith. Once she'd recovered enough to remain certain she wasn't going to pass out from the shock, she'd managed to ask a question she'd contemplated all last night.

"_Have you been able to determine how old this potion is?"_ she'd asked nervously, unsure whether she really wanted the answer.

"_Yes and no. We have been able to narrow down a time period when the potion could have been administered."_

"_When?"_

"_Between five and ten years," _was the reply. _"For now, it's the best we can do..."_

_And it's enough for now._ Lily began to climb the hill that led to Hogwarts gates. _If I'm right on when I think Harry took the potion, it could explain a hell of a lot._

"Lily!" called a voice.

The witch looked around for the source before finding Kingsley Shacklebolt waving from behind the gates. "Hello, Kingsley," she called back, approaching more quickly. "Would you mind terribly letting me in?"

Kingsley hesitated. "Dumbledore's request," he said regretfully. "No one comes in unless he specifically allows them to do so."

Lily rolled her eyes and pulled her wand out of her robes, trying to come up with a good memory—she'd been so miserable for two days, she was unsure whether there were any happy thoughts left in her body. Finally, she settled on the discovery that her son was still breathing after being hit by the Killing Curse. With a silent string of words, she affixed a message onto the happy memory, pointed her wand towards the castle, as near to Dumbledore's office as possible, and spoke.

"_Expecto Patronum."_

Though it seemed weaker and duller, her doe-patronus shot off towards the school, soaring up several hundred feet, and finally disappeared through the stone wall.

Kingsley and Lily waited for a response; luckily, the Headmaster seemed to sense some urgency in her patronus-message, and a few moments later, they could see the bright phoenix-patronus flying down to land beside Kingsley at the gates. "Certainly, Lily," the patronus said in Dumbledore's voice, "the gates of Hogwarts are always open to you. And once you've completed your business, please feel free to come have tea with me."

Lily was quite clear that this last statement wasn't a request; if she wanted to ever step foot on Hogwarts grounds again without an invitation, she would need to accept Dumbledore's invitation for tea. Kingsley made short work of undoing the charms and unlocking the chains that held the gates shut. She murmured a quick thanks and rushed across the grounds and into the school.

She wasn't certain what she was going to say when she reached her destination, only that the person she needed to speak with could possibly solve several mysteries surrounding her son's condition. The dungeons were as cold and unwelcoming as ever, as though the stone walls were well aware that she had been a Gryffindor and were reminding her she didn't belong this far underground. She ignored the feelings and continued through the damp corridors until she reached a closed classroom door.

Raising her hand to knock, she lowered it immediately; there seemed to be a lesson in session and she knew barging in and interrupting would do nothing to get her what she wanted. Her wait wasn't long. Not five minutes after her arrival, a bell sounded in the corridors to signal the end of classes.

Quickly, she stepped back to avoid being trampled by the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs leaving the room eagerly. Most of them looked at her curiously, but she ignored them, hoping they hurried up and went wherever they were headed next. Just as the group thinned out and Lily began stepping into the classroom, a blur of red ran directly into her arms, hugging her tightly.

She looked down at the dark red untidy hair and wondered why she felt so surprised to find her younger son at Hogwarts. "Hi, sweetie," she said, hugging him back.

Caleb loosened his grip and looked up into her face. "What's going on, Mum?" he asked quietly. "With Harry. People are saying things..."

Lily sighed, hesitating. "Harry will be fine," she said, unsure if she should be saying this. "And I will try to explain everything to you, but I can't right now. I have to speak with Professor Snape."

Caleb gave her a look of complete puzzlement. "Why?" he asked as though nobody in their right mind would want to do what his mother was considering.

She managed a small smile. "It's nothing you need to be concerned about right now," she told him, smoothing his hair. "You should get on to your next lesson. I promise as soon as I can, I will come back and try to answer your questions. Okay?"

Her son looked as though he wanted nothing more than to argue, but he finally nodded, hugged her again tightly, and headed towards the stairs out of the dungeon. Lily watched him until he disappeared, smiling as encouragingly as she could when he looked over his shoulder at her. Once he was gone, Lily took a deep breath and entered the classroom.

"Professor, do you have a moment?"

Severus Snape looked up from his desk in surprise, setting down the quill he was using to mark papers and standing up. "Lily," he said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Lily closed the door and crossed the room so she didn't have to shout to be heard. "I'm sure by now you've heard about what happened to my son..."

Snape nodded silently.

"His Healers are doing everything in their power to figure out how this has happened and during one of their examinations, they discovered a strange potion in his system."

"What sort of potion?" Snape asked quietly, his brow furrowed in thought.

"I'm not sure," Lily responded. "It's an odd one, though; several of the ingredients are entire potions—two different calming draughts, a confusion concoction, and something that wipes the drinker's memory several hours before and after consumption."

It took a trained eye to see Severus' complexion pale more than normal. "By any chance," he began slowly, "would there be slight traces of the Draught of the Living Dead in his system?"

Lily's eyes widened. "The Healer thinks so," she replied, her heart rate quickening. "Do you know of this potion?"

Severus hesitated. "I believe I do," he responded finally. "It was an invention of the Dark Lord's several years ago. When he believed it perfected, it was tested, but only once; the Dark Lord wanted to wait and see if the effects he desired appeared."

"What are the effects?" she heard herself ask.

"Of that, nobody but the Dark Lord is certain," Severus told her.

"And who was it tested on?"

"Again, I do not know." He watched her for a moment, then said, "What I do know, however, is that the test subject was young when the potion was administered. If I recall correctly, this was about ten years ago."

_Ten years ago..._ Her mind was flying as it tried to connect this bit of information to another bit she'd wondered about last night. When the two thoughts finally met, she felt a sudden urge to sit. Severus quickly came around and led her to a desk so she didn't fall to the ground.

Her son had been kidnapped ten years ago. He was gone for three days and when he was found, he couldn't remember anything that had happened to him. Lily and James had taken him to St. Mungo's to have him looked over for any unseen damage to his body. They hadn't found anything other than his being dehydrated and malnourished.

Some of Healer Smith's words were finally beginning to register. What had he said... something about a time-release that kept the other ingredients in the potion disguised from any magical or Muggle tests...

"Lily, do you need some water?" Severus asked, sitting in a chair beside him.

She looked up, blinked a few times, and shook her head. "No, I'll be fine." She stood so quickly that he jumped several inches off his chair. "Thank you for your time, Severus. I have to meet with the Headmaster..."

* * *

Harry lay in his hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. He hadn't had a single visitor since Dumbledore had left last evening, and while he had understood what his Headmaster had said about not believing his parents would be visiting him any time in the foreseeable future, he'd hoped that Dumbledore would be proven wrong for a change.

_Should have known better. They all hate me now. Lily and James and Sirius, Caleb and Piper when they find out the truth. _

He'd further hoped that even though his parents didn't want to see him right now, Remus might. But even the man Harry had confessed everything to had been painfully absent.

_Guess he finally realized what he'd gotten himself into and doesn't want anything to do with me either._

Another part of his mind tried to convince him the only reason Remus hadn't come to visit was because of the row he and James had had the other day. Harry very carefully blocked that out; it seemed a bit too hopeful to actually be true.

_So if I'm going to be alone, why should I stay here? For all I know, James is planning to come here and arrest me for not only possessing his beloved son, but killing him. Judging by how he was acting last time he was here, that doesn't seem very far off the mark._

Decision made, Harry threw his bedclothes off his body and carefully got out of bed, looking around for the pile of clothes he'd worn when he was on the platform. He sighed in relief to find they had also left his wand with his belongings. He dressed quickly, hoping the medi-witches who kept coming to check on him would hold off just a little longer. Luck was with him—they did.

At the door, he chanced a quick peek to make certain the corridor was empty. Confident that it was deserted, Harry slipped out the door and looked around for a few moments before locating the staircase. With any luck, he wouldn't meet anyone on his way and could escape the place without being seen.

_After that... I don't know. _

_But anywhere's got to be better than here. _

_

* * *

_**AN: **Couple quick notes:

1. To those couple reviewers who seem to think I was "begging" for reviews last chapter when I said "No, I will not update if you don't review," it was a joke, people. You haven't seen me beg for reviews. I have done it. And never on this story.

2. I am completely blown away by the response to this story. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Please keep the encouragement coming. (Does that count as begging?)

3. This chapter was all set to be updated on Friday night, but the powers that be (this _wonderful_ website) wouldn't let me.

4. There will most likely be a sequel to this story, details forthcoming.

5. To the reviewer **You Know Who**: No, I am not a Slytherin, but thanks for asking.

6. More story coming soon. Have a good rest of the weekend!


	15. Fifteen

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Fifteen_

As she cleaned up the breakfast dishes the next morning, Lily did her best to keep her mind on neutral subjects—the shopping she needed to do today, which of Piper's clothes needed to be enlarged after her most recent growth spurt—to avoid thinking about what she'd discovered yesterday at Hogwarts. Following her discussion with Severus Snape, she had gone to have tea with Dumbledore. She hadn't planned on staying long; she'd already come up with the excuse that she had to get back home to Piper.

Unfortunately, either Dumbledore had seen right through her excuse or he knew something was on her mind and wanted her to sit and tell him what was wrong before she attempted to Apparate home.

_He only does it because he cares,_ Lily had told herself. _We've got enough on our minds without adding me splinching myself on the way home. _

So she had told the Headmaster everything she'd learned that morning. He'd remained silent during her explanations and even for a few minutes longer when she'd run out of things to say. Finally, he responded. He agreed with her theory about when the mysterious potion had been given to Harry, though he, like she and Snape, couldn't think of what result the potion was supposed to cause. He had, however, explained a theory he'd heard years ago, when Voldemort was first becoming powerful.

Maybe because he didn't think one world was enough to rule over, Voldemort had been interested in other worlds and the effects certain actions would have upon said worlds. Though it was a long shot, Dumbledore thought perhaps Voldemort might have created a potion that would force the drinker, in their subconscious, to become aware of events experienced by the drinker's "other self." While Lily believed wholeheartedly that this could be why everything had happened to her family, Dumbledore was quick to remind her that it was only a theory and would need to be investigated properly before confirming its existence.

_And until I know for certain what's going on, there isn't any point upsetting James any more than he already is._

Her husband was still keeping to himself. He had barely eaten dinner the night before, Piper had to repeat her request for carrots five times before he'd heard her, and he'd gone to bed at eight o'clock without a word to Lily that he was going. She'd spoken to Sirius and he had confirmed that James was doing about the same at work. James had holed himself up in his office, forcing Sirius to take over duties as Head Auror for the time being. He hadn't minded, Sirius had told Lily. Better to keep James out of the thick of things until he was a little more aware of his surroundings.

Still, Lily couldn't remember ever seeing her husband shut down completely like this. Even when his parents had died and Peter had been Kissed, James had allowed her to help him through the worst of it. If he needed to talk, she was there; if he needed to be held while he cried, she was there. Now, it almost seemed as though he didn't want her comfort. She tried to remind herself that everyone dealt with losses differently; this was just how James was dealing with it.

_The only problem with that is if he keeps it up, he's going to bring the rest of us down with him._

Lily started and quickly swiped at her eyes when she heard a chime in the living room. Somebody was Flooing in. She wiped her hands on the dishtowel and hurried in, finding Remus looking strained and worried as he tried to greet Piper with his usual enthusiasm.

"Piper, go upstairs for a little while, please," Lily said distractedly, trying to figure out what had happened to make Remus look like that. Once Piper had gone, she pulled Remus to a chair. "What happened?"

"He's gone," he said hoarsely.

Her brow furrowed. "Who?"

"Harry. I went to see him at the hospital, but he wasn't in his room. The medi-witches say he was there this morning at two when they went to check on him and no one seems to know when he left or where he went."

Lily felt all the color drain from her face. "Gone?" she whispered disbelievingly. "But where would he have gone?'

Remus shook his head. "I don't know. But we need to find him." He hesitated. "I think we may need to get the Aurors involved, Lily. The more people there are, the better chance we have of finding him."

Lily nodded slowly. "I'll go. Stay with Piper?"

Remus nodded back and Lily was sure he hadn't even noticed her getting into the fireplace. "Ministry of Magic, Atrium," she said, tossing Floo powder at her feet. Seconds later, she was stepping onto the highly-polished wooden floor of the Ministry's Atrium. Without hesitation, she moved quickly through the crowds of people, cursed at the line at the lifts, and decided to take the stairs instead.

She had no memory of going down the stairs and was slightly surprised when she found herself in the cubicle-filled room that was Auror Headquarters. Ignoring all the looks from the witches and wizards she passed, knowing she had to look rather odd as she fought not to run into James' office, she arrived at the back of the room, knocked once on the door labeled _James Potter—Head Auror_, and opened the door without waiting for an invitation.

She seemed to have interrupted a discussion between her husband and his best friend, though she had a feeling Sirius was doing most the talking.

"Lily," Sirius said, standing to let her sit. Then he'd gotten a look at her face. "What's wrong?"

She ignored him for a moment. "James, Harry's missing," she said as calmly as she could manage. "We need to find him, regardless of what you believe he's done or what he is."

For the first time in days, James met his wife's eyes. Her heart contracted at the pain she saw in them. "Harry's dead, Lily," he said hollowly.

She shook her head. "No, he's not," she said firmly. "Maybe the Harry we knew is gone, but there's another boy out there who needs us right now, James. And that's exactly what he is—_a boy_." She looked pleadingly at Sirius.

Hesitating, Sirius grabbed another chair and sat beside her. "What do you mean he's missing?"

Relieved that someone was going to hear her out, Lily told Sirius everything Remus had told her only a few minutes before. "And I think I know what caused him to run away," she whispered. "I'd gone to the hospital the other night to sit with him. He was awake, Sirius." She knew James was listening even if he wasn't showing it. "Dumbledore was with him. Harry never wanted this, for any of us. And he only wanted one thing."

"What?" Sirius asked mechanically.

"He wanted to know if his parents were going to come see him. And when Dumbledore said no... Sirius, I've never heard anyone sounding so dejected in my life. He needs us right now, _all_ of us. We can't just let him wander on his own; who knows where he'll end up."

"Maybe he should have thought about that before he took over my son's life," James said harshly.

Lily looked back at him and found the pain in his eyes had been replaced by anger. "You're being ridiculous about this," she said, her voice wavering as she stood. "He's a kid, James, not a Death Eater! He doesn't deserve to be hated! He needs to be taken care of and loved and comforted."

"He does, does he?" James replied, standing as well. Sirius stood hesitantly, obviously sensing an argument approaching. Lily was only vaguely aware that he'd placed a silencing charm around the room. "And what about us? What about our son? Did he deserve what happened to him? Do you even _care_ that our oldest son is gone, Lily?"

Sirius took several hasty steps backwards as Lily shot around the desk to confront her husband. "Who do you think you are?" she hissed, her eyes blazing. "Of course I care! I gave birth to the boy! I taught him to walk and talk, and it sure as hell wasn't you carrying him around in the middle of the night while he screamed at the top of his lungs when he was teething!"

James' lip curled. "Yeah, some mother you are. Didn't even notice when some copy of your own son started taking him over."

Before she realized what she was doing, Lily had lifted her hand and applied it hard to James' face. He stumbled backwards a few steps and stared at her as though he'd never seen her before in his life. His own hand gingerly felt the bright red spot where he'd been slapped.

"Don't you _dare_ blame his on me, James Potter," she said in a deadly quiet voice. "For once in your life, think about something besides yourself. This isn't about you or me. It's about our son. And whether you help or not, I'm going to go look for him. I'll warn you right now, though; if you don't help me and if you insist on placing blame on innocent people, you had better be gone when I get home from searching."

James looked away, hand still resting on his cheek. He looked for a few moments like he wanted to say something to her, but he shook his head and looked over her shoulder at Sirius. "Get a team together," he said quietly. "Send them to St. Mungo's and find out how the hell a fifteen-year-old patient was able to get out of there without anyone noticing. When you're done there, head to my house and we'll try to work out a plan from there."

Sirius nodded, shot Lily a nervous glance, and left the office, closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry."

Lily looked at James and found he'd closed some of the distance between them. She nodded. "I know," she responded quietly. "I have to get home. Remus is watching Piper and I should let Dumbledore know what's going on."

James seemed to want to call after her as she left his office, but she didn't give him the chance.

Minutes later, she was stepping out of her own fireplace again, not surprised to find Helen sitting beside Remus on the sofa, holding his hand.

"Well?" Remus said.

"They're going to help," she said shortly. "We need to start thinking of places he might go. Any suggestions?"

Remus sighed and rested his head on the back of the sofa. "Hogwarts, maybe," he said uncertainly. "Maybe your sister's home, since that's where he lives in his world."

"What about friends?" Helen asked. "Maybe he's gone to someone he knows."

"Who, though?" Lily asked, shaking her head. "All his friends that I know of are at Hogwarts."

"He was telling me about a boy," Remus said, looking thoughtful. "Wellsley... Weatherby..."

"Weasley?" Helen asked.

Remus snapped his fingers. "That's the one! Do you know him?"

"Vaguely," Helen told him. "Hermione's mentioned a boy named Ron who she spends time with at school sometimes. Don't know much about him, though."

Lily sighed. "Probably doesn't matter, anyway. Honestly, he doesn't know anybody here."

Remus let go of Helen's hand to take both of Lily's. "We'll find him," he promised quietly.

She knew her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "I know."

* * *

Harry was lost. He'd wandered around London for hours before realizing the wallet in his back pocket was full of Muggle money. After getting himself a quick meal, he'd taken a bus out of London, unsure where he was going or why.

The bus had let him off several hours away from the city—he wasn't even sure which direction he'd gone—and since then, he'd been walking. His intuition was telling him to find a payphone or a fireplace and contact his parents, but his mind was yelling at him to just keep running. Maybe he'd find a room at an inn or something and stay there until he came up with a proper plan.

_Hermione was always the best at making plans,_ he thought suddenly. _Caleb too, for that matter. They'd know exactly where I should go and what I should do._

He stopped walking suddenly and shook himself. _I'm probably never going to see either of them again, so might as well get used to that. _

All day long, he'd been searching his mind for the voice that had been there days ago, the one that was always so carefree and cocky and occasionally had a decent idea, but no matter how hard he tried, he hadn't been able to hear the voice of the other Harry since that weird dream he'd had after he'd been cursed.

A growl and a string of swearwords rushed out of his mouth as he recalled exactly what had happened on the platform and who had cursed him. _Don't know why I'm so surprised,_ he thought dully. _We knew ages ago he was going to follow in Daddy's footsteps. _

Regardless, the memory of Draco Malfoy standing in front of him, his wand pointed at Harry's chest, a look of pure hatred and evil on his face, still frightened him a little. It had almost seemed like someone was controlling the other boy's actions, like he was under the Imperius Curse. Harry and Draco had grown up much differently from each other, but even Harry couldn't imagine his Hogwarts nemesis capable of murder so early in his life.

His stomach started growling again and Harry realized it was nearing dinnertime. He looked around his surroundings—he was walking through a small forest and could see the path widening just ahead. When he reached the mouth, he was looking at a small village. Not caring enough to wonder what the place was called, Harry picked up his speed a little when he located a small pub and inn called The Hanged Man. Some of the patrons looked at him oddly when he entered, but he ignored them as he approached the bar and tried to get the barman's attention.

"Help you?" the elderly man asked, looking at Harry suspiciously.

"Er, yes. Do you have any rooms available?" Harry asked.

The man nodded. "Aye. Ten pounds a night, not including meals."

"I'll take it," Harry said quickly, taking out his wallet and passing the man two twenty pound notes.

Now that Harry showed that he had money, the man was a little more willing to work with him; he pulled a ledger from beneath the bar and had Harry sign it. "Just you, then?" he asked, retrieving a key and gesturing for Harry to follow.

"Yes," Harry said shortly, hoping the man would take the hint and not ask any more questions.

"Here we are," the man said, glancing down at the ledger in his hand. "Dean, is it?"

"That's right. Dean Longbottom."

"Room ten." Harry took the room key from the man. "Let us know when you're hungry and we'll bring something up for you."

"Thank you."

Harry waited until the top of the man's head disappeared down the stairs before he entered his room. He definitely preferred the rooms at the Leaky Cauldron. A full-size bed sat just inside the door across from a television. Beside it on the bedside table was a phone. After a moment of hesitation, Harry reached behind the phone and unplugged it from the wall. The bathroom was tiny—there was barely enough room to move around with the sink, toilet and shower in the way. He did have to admit, though, the view out the window over the chest of drawers wasn't horrible. Flopping down on the bed, Harry settled in for the long haul.

* * *

"Any luck?"

Remus looked up from the map he and Helen had been studying for an hour now, finding James holding the door open for a large black dog. "Nothing worthwhile," he answered. "Dumbledore's informed the Hogwarts staff to keep an eye out and even asked the house-elves to do their own searches in the castle."

"Not to mention he's involved the entire village of Hogsmeade, just in case Harry somehow wanders in their direction," Helen added, rubbing her eyes.

"What about you two?" Remus asked, grabbing four bottles of butterbeer and passing them around.

Sirius transformed back into his human form, took a bottle, and sank into a chair at the kitchen table. "St. Mungo's claims they have no idea how he got out of the building. They _say_ they've got charms on the doors that are activated by those stupid little plastic bracelets the patients wear. If someone wearing one hasn't been released by a Healer and tries to leave, the hospital staff is supposed to be alerted immediately."

"So either their charms are faulty," James said, "or they ignored the alert."

Remus sighed. "Were you able to follow his track at all?"

"Not far," James said wearily. "He was on foot for a while, we tracked him to a small café, but after that, we lost the trail. My theory is either that he Apparated—which I don't think he can do—or someone found him before we could."

The kitchen was silent for a few moments so this statement could really have an effect. James broke the silence first. "Where's Lily?"

"Tucking Piper into bed," Helen replied. "Smart kid you've got there, James. It took her all of twenty minutes to realize exactly what we were doing. Then it took Lily and Remus a good two hours to assure her that her big brother was just fine and would be found in good time."

"She didn't believe us," Remus muttered dully, going back to looking at the map. "By the end of it, Lily had to mix in a mild sleeping draught into her cocoa just to calm her down."

James sighed. "Probably for the best right now..."

Lily finally returned to the kitchen, greeting James coolly. Remus was certain she was still angry over their argument earlier in the day, which he had eventually coaxed out of her after the twelfth time she was heard muttering the best ways to curse her husband.

"Okay, let's think about this rationally," Sirius said, ignoring the looks he received for suggesting rational thought. "He's a fifteen-year-old boy, he can't Apparate, he doesn't have much money. How far can he get?"

"Strange as it is to even think it," Remus began, "Sirius is right." He dodged a half-hearted swipe from his friend and continued. "If you two lost his trail not far from that café, then perhaps he used another mode of transportation. I very much doubt he had his broomstick, so what else is there?"

They all saw the sudden understanding in Lily's eyes. "Merlin's wand, we're looking in the wrong place. I bet anything he took a bus."

"The Knight Bus, maybe?" Sirius said.

"Maybe. But remember, we're not dealing with a boy who grew up magical. He'd think in Muggle terms as well." Lily stood, pointing at James and Sirius. "You two go check with the Knight Bus. I don't think it's too late for the Muggle buses to have stopped running, so Remus and I can talk to them. Helen, would you mind staying with Piper?"

"Not at all," the other witch told Lily. "I'll let Dumbledore know what you're up to as well."

"Thank you." Lily hugged her friend briefly as all the adults started on their tasks. Ten minutes later, Remus and Lily had arrived just outside a London bus terminal.

"Any idea how we're going to do this?" the wizard asked as they approached the building.

"Not a clue."

Remus nodded. "Thought I'd check."

* * *

Harry woke suddenly with an audible gasp and tried to still his shaking hands enough to wipe some of the cold sweat out of his eyes. He sat up in bed and reached over to switch on the light before putting on his glasses. For the first time in a month, he'd had his familiar flashback dream of his night in the graveyard when he'd faced Lord Voldemort. It was clearer and more detailed than it had been since he'd actually experienced it. Perhaps this was his punishment for not dwelling on it for so long.

_And why haven't I been able to dwell on it?_ he asked himself dully. _Because someone else was helping to keep my mind off it. _

With a sigh, Harry got out of bed and crossed the room to the window. It was a nice little village, he admitted. Maybe he could somehow move here, settle in and forget all about his old life. He was sure he still had access to the Potters' Gringotts vault; would it be considered theft if he took just enough to get started? Young as he was, he knew how to work—_thank you, Aunt Petunia, and aren't those four words I never thought I'd say—_so he could probably find a job to keep himself going, maybe in this inn. The barman seemed nice enough and didn't bother asking many questions...

His thoughts stopped suddenly as he spotted something in the distance. He studied it for a few moments, unsure to figure out why it looked so curiously familiar. Before he could talk himself out of it, he was getting dressed, tying his trainers, and was heading through the dark pub into the chilly night. He shivered a little, wishing he'd thought to grab a jacket at some point that day.

As he walked up a dirt path that led to a hill, something about the place began to look familiar to him, but he couldn't put a finger on it just yet. It wasn't until the path ended and he had a chance to scan his surroundings that he realized that he'd been to this place before, very recently. To his right stood the dilapidated Riddle house where he'd had visions of Voldemort and Wormtail scheming to kill him last year, and here before him was the graveyard where he'd been tortured, where he'd seen Cedric Diggory drop dead right beside him.

He stumbled across the grass blindly and collapsed where he had the night his mother and father's shades had emerged from Voldemort's wand.

_That's why all this started, _he thought bitterly. _If it hadn't been for that night, I wouldn't have spent weeks wondering what my life would have been like if they'd lived. _

"Why didn't you just kill me?" he said in a strained whisper, turning and finding the marker that stood over Tom Riddle Senior's grave. "You had your chance. What kind of wizard are you anyway? Can't even properly kill a kid."

He pulled off his glasses and pressed his hands against his eyes, knowing and not caring that it wasn't going to stop his tears. "Come on, Voldemort!" he shouted into the darkness. "I'm right here! Come get me! I won't even fight back! There's no reason! I don't belong anywhere..."

The last sentence was spoken in a hoarse whisper, which allowed him to hear what he was suddenly sure was the snapping of a stick under somebody's foot. Replacing his glasses didn't help much; his eyes were swollen and bloodshot and blurry. Several blinks allowed him to identify the huge dark shadows around him as trees and further helped him recognize a form standing between said trees. His breaths were coming quickly as he squinted at the form.

A cloud moved away from the moon, letting him see pale skin beneath a long black cloak. And there, a flash of red…

_It's Voldemort. He came. He's finally going to kill me. _

Harry found himself much less afraid of this than he ever had been.

"Took you long enough," he said roughly, pushing himself off the ground. "Well, come on, get it over with already... kill me..."

Long pale fingers slowly reached up to lower the cloak's hood.

* * *

**AN:** In case you can't tell, the story is starting to wind down a little. I'll probably end it around chapter eighteen, depending on whether I get everything I want in the remaining chapters. Thank you kindly to whydoyouneedtoknow for beta-reading. And thank you to all the readers and reviewers. Hope you're enjoying. Now please review.


	16. Sixteen

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Sixteen_

Sirius and James stumbled off the Knight Bus, both of them unsure whether they should have eaten so much for supper. Their discussion with the bus' driver and conductor hadn't yielded any answers, except that to the question of why most of the population of the wizarding world used the bus only for emergency transport.

"I think that Ernie bloke took that turn on purpose," Sirius moaned as he dropped to his knees, eyes tightly shut.

"If you're going to be sick, do it now," James advised. "I'd rather not have to clean up the mess you'd make in my kitchen."

Just as he turned away from his friend's retching, James spotted a pearly white shape running towards him. He recognized it immediately as Remus' patronus and waited patiently for the wolf to reach him. "We think we might have a lead," the patronus said in Remus' voice. "We're not sure how reliable it is—Lily was a little, ah, _demanding_ to get the information—but we'll check it out. She says head back to the house and wait there for us. We shouldn't be long."

"What does he mean by Lily was 'demanding'?" asked Sirius, spitting out a mouthful of water he'd conjured from his wand.

"You really want to know?" James asked wryly. "You saw what she did to me at the Ministry."

"Yeah, but you kind of deserved it." Sirius gave him one final look before Disapparating.

With a sigh, James cleared his mind of all thoughts before following his best friend's lead.

* * *

"Did you really have to hang him up by his ankles?" Remus asked as he and Lily walked through the dark.

"Probably not," she responded with a half-shrug. "But we got our answers, didn't we?"

The wizard sighed and remained quiet.

They had been lucky enough to find the bus which had taken Harry out of London; after Lily had shown the driver a picture of the boy in question, the driver's memory started coming back little by little, but he also seemed to note the desperation of the people searching for the boy. Remus had only half-heartedly tried to keep Lily from pointing her wand at the driver when the man had had the audacity to ask them what was in it for him to remember where he'd let Harry off.

_Since I doubt anyone at the Ministry would dare prosecute her at this point._

Lily had the driver upside down in a second, and promised to leave him that way unless his memory began cooperating. Whether the driver had been afraid of the look of Lily's face or what she could do to him, he very quickly told them what he'd known about the boy.

_Who lets a boy who is obviously underage off a bus in the middle of nowhere_? Remus wondered to himself.

Once Remus had completed the necessary memory charm on the driver, he and Lily had let him go on with his route and had Apparated to the place Harry had last been seen. Unsure which direction the boy would have gone, Lily left Remus on the road for a moment while she Apparated home, grabbed a dirty sock that Harry had recently worn, and returned. Using the sock, they were able to use a spell that sought the trail of article of clothing's owner and were now following a very dim golden trail down the road and hoped the spell was leading them to Harry.

During their walk, Lily had explained what she'd discovered the day before concerning the potion in Harry's system and Dumbledore's views on it. Though she hadn't said it aloud, Remus knew she was thinking the same thing he was: Voldemort had once again gotten the better of them.

_Well, this is just one more thing to add to the list of why he needs to be defeated._

"I think we're close," Lily said suddenly, pointing some way down the path.

Remus followed her finger and found the golden trail was a little brighter, which meant Harry had been here much more recently than he'd been on the path they'd been walking for the last two hours. "Must be," Remus agreed, their pace quickening as they realized the truth of it.

The trail led them to a shabby little inn and pub called The Hanged Man, and with only a glance between them, they entered, neither of their hands straying too far from their wands. The place was dark and held the stench of stale smoke Remus associated with Mundungus Fletcher. Finding nobody to question, they again followed the trail up a set of stairs to a door with a dull brass number ten hanging just above a tiny peephole.

Lily rapped gently on the door with her knuckles. "Harry?" she called in a whisper. When there was no response, she used her wand to unlock the door and entered the room. In here, the golden trail was brightest. "He was here..." She felt the bed, which looked as though someone had just recently left it, and nodded. "It's warm. He hasn't been gone long."

"And I think I may know where he's gone." Remus had wandered to the window and was now looking at a faint glow that led about a mile away and up a hill. "Why does that look like a graveyard?"

Lily joined him at the window. "Because it is," she said dully. "Come on."

The pair rushed to the hill and cursed. The golden trail had ended and experience told them it would do no good to try the spell again; they were nearer to Harry than they'd been all day.

A cry cut through the darkness, screaming words neither of them understood. "Split up?" Lily asked.

Remus sighed and nodded. He went left towards an old abandoned house while Lily continued straight up the hill to the graveyard they'd seen from the room. Vaguely, he thought this would be the perfect scenario for an ambush—two well-known members of the Order of the Phoenix with their minds completely distracted and without any backup. Hoping his mind was just overreacting from lack of sleep, Remus stepped foot on the overgrown lawn and headed towards the door.

* * *

Lily shivered at the cold wind that hit her and pulled up the hood of her cloak to protect her face from the cold. Somewhere nearby, she could hear cries and whimpers and followed the noise until she was fully in the graveyard. As the moon came out from behind the clouds, she sighed with thankfulness; she'd found what she had been looking for all day long.

Harry was curled up on the ground, knees near his chest. His breathing was interrupted by sobs and curses. She strained her ears to hear what he was muttering, hesitant to go to him just yet. She didn't want to frighten him.

"Why didn't you just kill me?" he was asking the area. He turned a little, still looking away from Lily, something that sounded a little like a laugh in his voice. "You had your chance. What kind of wizard are you anyway? Can't even properly kill a kid."

She watched him cry for a few minutes, her heart wrenching every second, but she still hesitated. The moon disappeared again, but her eyes adjusted quickly, giving her a silhouetted view of her oldest son—_and he _is_ mine, other worlds be damned._

"Come on, Voldemort!" he shouted into the darkness. "I'm right here! Come get me! I won't even fight back! There's no reason! I don't belong anywhere..."

This was too much. Lily took a few steps forward, but stopped immediately when she stepped on a stick. She winced at the noise; he couldn't have not heard that...

She was right. Harry's head snapped in her direction, his eyes narrowed as he searched. Not until another cloud moved away from the moon was she sure he had seen her. She watched nervously as Harry gave a strange grin and struggled to stand. A very small flicker of fear passed across his face before it was completely gone.

"Took you long enough," he said to her, obviously trying to sound tough regardless of his previous activities. "Well, come on, get it over with already... kill me..."

She blinked several times, wondering if she was imagining that last request. Her hands rose to her hood and lowered it slowly. If this had been some other situation, she might have laughed at the look of shock that appeared on the boy's face. As it was, though, she felt not the slightest inclination towards humor.

"I'm not here to kill you, Harry," she said, taking a few steps closer to him.

"What're you doing here?" Harry rubbed his eyes, sounding once again like a lost little boy.

"We've been looking everywhere for you," she replied, smiling. "You gave us one hell of a fright."

"But..." He looked away from her as though trying to work out what was happening. "I thought you hated me."

Abandoning all pretense, Lily closed the remaining distance between them and sat down in front of him, prompting Harry to do the same. "Nobody hates you," she said quietly, wiping a few remaining tears from his cheeks.

"Could've fooled me," he said gruffly, still not looking at her. "I heard what my d—what _James_ said at the hospital."

She closed her eyes for a moment, willing what little remaining anger she held for her husband to settle down. "I'm sorry you heard that," she said honestly, letting her fingers run themselves through Harry's hair, another battle in the eternal struggle for some semblance of neatness. "If there was a way to take it back, I would."

Harry nodded jerkily and she could feel his body shudder as his tears started up again. "I didn't want this to happen," he told her in a murmur. "I never wanted your son to die! You have to believe me!"

She wanted to tell him that she did believe him, but her voice seemed to have locked up.

"After we were cursed, I was in this weird room, and I saw him. He wanted me to tell you..." Harry took a deep breath and met her eyes. "He said he never told any of you how much he loved you, and he should have."

The tears Lily had kept back for days were now pouring from her eyes. Before she realized what she was doing, she pulled the boy in front of her into her arms, both of them crying together. A silent understanding seemed to have passed between them that they could discuss all of this later, that it just wasn't important right at that moment.

In a moment of clarity, Lily took out her wand and sent her patronus to find Remus so he would know where they were. Harry didn't notice; he was clinging to her as though he wasn't ever going to let go, muttering words she couldn't make out.

By the time Remus reached them, she was certain the boy in her arms was asleep.

"Is he all right?" Remus asked quietly, gently taking Harry from her arms without waking him.

She nodded, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her robes. "I think so," she said hoarsely. "Ready?"

"Where're we going?" murmured the mostly unconscious boy in Remus' arms.

Lily smiled a little, pushed some hair away from his eyes, and kissed his forehead. "We're going home, sweetie," she whispered to him. "Everything's okay now."

She thought she heard a sigh of contentment escape from his lips before he went limp once more.

* * *

James was passing the time waiting for his wife by pacing. It had been nearly three hours since he and Sirius had received Remus' message and came back to the house. Helen had made them promise to keep her updated on what was going on before heading home herself. Sirius' head was resting on his folded arms at the table. James knew he wasn't asleep, just trying to keep from worrying.

Finally, he sat at the table and stared at the ceiling, recalling the conversation he and his best friend had had shortly after Helen's departure.

"_You really think I deserved Lily smacking me?" James had asked out of nowhere._

_Sirius had looked at him calculatingly for a moment before nodding._ _"Yes," he said simply. "I know you're upset, but what you said crossed the line. You think you're the only one who ever loved Harry? You're not. And while I know I shouldn't compare a godfather's love to a father's, we're all hurt by this mess." He hesitated a moment. "Could've been a hell of a lot worse."_

"_How?" James had asked croakily. _

"_You could have lost him altogether. There could be nothing left of him, but there is. We've been searching the bloody country for him all damn day. Just because you don't think of this kid as _your_ son, it doesn't mean someday you won't."_

"_Everybody is treating this like it never happened. My son was hit by the Killing Curse, Sirius. The boy I know as my son is dead."_

"_And we all miss him." The sincerity in Sirius' voice surprised James. "_All_ of us. Lily, Remus, you, me, Piper, Caleb... That doesn't mean we have to shun this other boy..."_

And Sirius was right, though James wouldn't dare admit it out loud. He'd spent a month with the boy he'd thought was his son and thinking back on it, the boy wasn't much different than his son in a lot of ways. He was smart, funny, loving... his family had suffered a huge loss, no one was trying to deny that, but they'd also been given an unexpected gift, and there was no reason why they couldn't go on with life with this other boy—this other _Harry._

His thoughts were cut off abruptly when the front door opened. Immediately, Sirius was up and out of his chair, his wand out instinctively, but he replaced it in his robes when he heard Remus' low murmuring voice in the hallway. With a glance, the two friends headed towards the new arrivals. James stopped suddenly when he saw what was in Remus' arms. His memories from the platform were flooding back—his son, limp and lifeless on the ground, pale as death.

"Is he..." Sirius managed to speak before James could.

Lily shook her head quickly, placing a finger to her lips to quiet the wizards. "Asleep," she whispered. James was surprised by the relief he felt at her clarification. "Maybe a little delusional, but we can work that out later."

"I'll take him to his room," Remus said quietly, heading for the stairs and ignoring the looks James and Sirius were now giving Harry.

With a glance between Lily and James, Sirius quickly followed.

Many things needed to be said, but for now, James settled for getting to his wife before she quite began to sob and leading her into the living room to sit. He held her for long minutes, whispering words of comfort into her hair. When she calmed a little, he loosened his grip on her, but never let her go completely, instead looking deeply into the eyes of the woman he'd loved since he was thirteen years old. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "For everything."

She didn't allow him any more words. Their kiss lasted minutes, each of them trying to communicate to the other their apologies and forgiveness, their fears and pain, and the love that made them willing to share all the rest. They broke apart slowly, and Lily rested her head contently on James' chest until Sirius and Remus joined them.

Sirius was looking at Lily with raised eyebrows as he sat in an armchair.

"Yes?" she asked flatly.

"He thought you were Voldemort?"

Somewhere to James' left, Remus sighed wearily. James looked at his wife. "I think I'm going to want to hear about this one," he said slowly.

She nodded. "You will," she promised. "But not tonight. We're all tired. Sirius, Remus, you know where the guest bedrooms are, no arguing. We'll talk everything to death in the morning."

Slowly, the four friends made their way upstairs, murmured half-hearted goodnights to one another, and finally went to bed.

* * *

Early the next morning, after only a few hours of sleep, the adults in the house were semi-awake and at the kitchen table with coffee or tea in hand, listening first to everything Remus had found out about the boy who had somehow been thrown into their world, then to Lily's explanation of everything she had learned since Dumbledore's revelation of the existence of parallel universes. Lily noted with a pang that though James wasn't outright stating he didn't want the visiting Harry in his home, he wasn't eager to hug him tightly and call him son, either.

_He needs time for new ideas to settle in, just like he always does._

Sirius seemed a little more willing to accept the boy, especially after he'd heard what Remus had been saying about this Harry's knowledge of his godfather—that he hadn't known he'd had a godfather until he was thirteen, and that what he'd known of said godfather for nearly an entire year was that he was a murderer and the betrayer of his parents, the reason he was orphaned, until a spectacular night of revelations which led to the current affection he held for his own world's Sirius.

Piper wandered into the kitchen groggily; Lily winced at the recollection of the potion she'd had to give her daughter the night before. The girl seemed to have forgotten all about it, and the reason she had been upset when she spotted her mother at the table. While she listened to Sirius' half-hearted threats to hang Piper from the rafters in the attic because she'd stuck her tongue out at him, Lily, with Remus' help, bustled around the kitchen to scrape together breakfast.

As he stirred the scrambled eggs, Remus looked over his shoulder to James, who hadn't moved an inch in about an hour. "Think he's going to be okay?" he asked Lily quietly.

She glanced at her husband and sighed. "Eventually," she finally answered. "You have to admit, this is all a little weird, even for us."

"A little weird?" Remus asked dubiously, making Lily chuckle. "Lily, a little weird was me realizing that I had three friends who didn't care I was a werewolf in second year. Weird was watching said friends becoming Animagi within three years. _Really _weird might even be the way your daughter jumped off the roof of the porch because she'd spotted me coming a few months back. This, my dear Lily, is a lot more than _weird._"

"Point taken," Lily replied, rolling her eyes. She grinned suddenly. "You know, I really hope Helen hasn't been put off by our insane family..."

Remus chuckled and she noticed a soft smile on his face. "You saw how readily she accepted what happened," he replied. "I think most people would have run screaming, but..." He hesitated. "She's not most people."

Lily hid her smile. As she reached for the toast to butter, there was a _thud_ directly above them. Everybody looked up at the ceiling. "I guess Harry's awake," she said with a sigh. "I'll be right back..."

When she approached her son's door, she could hear muffled curses inside as the occupant tried to get to his feet and back on his bed. She knocked, waited for the invitation inside, and entered. "Good morning," she said, smiling a little at the indignant look on his face. "You okay?"

He nodded, massaging his toe. "Somebody thought it was funny to leave a biting teacup on the floor."

Lily looked at the offending object and chuckled. "That'll be Sirius," she said with certainty. "Consider it his way of welcoming you to the family."

She watched the boy's brow furrow as his ministrations with his toe slowed to a more thoughtful pace. "Welcome me to the..."

"The family," Lily repeated, sitting down at the desk. "You didn't think we were just going to let you wander the country, did you? You're underage, we could be arrested for neglect, and that's just the legality of the situation."

Harry stared at her, his sore toe forgotten. "You want me to stay?" he asked in a disbelieving whisper. "Even after everything that's happened?"

Lily gave him a small smile. "You didn't cause this," she told him gently. "We're not sure what caused it, but we're fairly certain it wasn't you."

"But..." Harry looked around the room as though he was searching for arguments. "What about your son?"

She sighed sadly. "Well, I'm not going to lie, I miss him horribly, but what can we do about it, really? He'll always be our son, but that doesn't mean we don't have room for one more around here."

Harry nodded slowly. "Will I have to go back to the hospital?"

Lily snorted. "Considering the wonderful job they didn taking care of you last time, I don't think there's any point," she told him. "They had no idea what they were looking at anyway; you might as well sleep somewhere familiar and comfortable while they figure out what they're looking for."

"What about everyone else?" he asked. "James and Piper and Caleb..."

"If he knows what's good for him, James will come around." Harry grinned a little. "It's going to take time for all of us, but it'll happen. Piper's a little too young to really understand what's happening, so I don't think it'll hurt anything for her to keep thinking of you as her brother—if you don't mind, of course." Harry shook his head quickly; Lily smiled. "Then there's our little genius Caleb... He _is_ old enough to understand most of this and I think he deserves to know. We've asked Headmaster Dumbledore to let him come home for the weekend, so we'll tell him then."

Harry nodded and fell into a thoughtful silence until the rumbling of his stomach interrupted. The boy grinned sheepishly while Lily chuckled and shook her head. "Hungry?" she asked. He nodded. "I'll go get you some breakfast. Stay in bed for today, you need the rest. We'll talk some more later."

Lily was almost entirely out of the room, the door nearly closed behind her when she heard a muttered thanks inside. Smiling, she headed to the kitchen to make Harry a plate.

* * *

James sat alone in the kitchen in the middle of the night, thinking. The day had been fairly uneventful—Lily and Remus had both spent most of it upstairs with Harry while James and Sirius kept Piper occupied. Before he'd left just after dinner, James had pulled Remus aside and had apologized for what happened at the hospital. In turn, Remus apologized for keeping something this huge from James and Lily. The rational part of James' mind had known exactly why Remus hadn't told them anything; James probably would have done something irreversible regardless of whatever his wife said.

It had been decided amongst the adults that a small, very private memorial would be held for James and Lily's Harry. They couldn't exactly hold an entire funeral—for one there wasn't a body that wasn't being used, and until they knew more about what had happened on the platform, it wouldn't do anybody any good to start telling everybody they knew that not only had Harry Potter survived the Killing Curse, but he'd been sharing his body with a boy from another universe.

James shook his head at the thought. The more his mind concentrated on the events, the more confused he became. How had this happened? _Why _had this happened? Dumbledore seemed to think it was a potion Harry had been forced to drink during his kidnapping ten years ago that started this mess, but James still hadn't figured out what to think of this theory. That was a hell of an effect for a potion to have on a kid, one that couldn't possibly have any benefit for the world.

_And since when does Voldemort do anything beneficial for the world?_

"Oh, sorry... I didn't know anyone was awake..."

James turned to find the subject of his thoughts lingering in the entrance to the kitchen hesitantly. "Can't sleep?" he asked.

The boy shrugged. "I was thirsty."

James nodded. "Help yourself," he said, gesturing to the fridge.

Another moment's hesitation, and Harry finally entered the kitchen, retrieving a glass from the cabinet and filling it with milk. "I'll just take this upstairs," he murmured. "Sorry to interrupt..."

"Hang on," James said. Harry turned around slowly. "Have a seat."

Harry eyed him a bit warily, but eventually sat as far from James as he could and still be in the kitchen.

James sighed. _Should have expected that reaction..._ "Listen, Lily—" He shook his head and corrected himself. "Your _mum_ told me that you heard what I said at the hospital." Harry was concentrating hard on his milk. "If I'd known you were awake—"

"If you'd known I was awake," Harry interrupted, the bitterness in his voice obvious to James, "you would have just gone somewhere else and said it."

James felt himself grin a little. "Probably true," he replied wryly. "But I'm still sorry for it."

The boy shrugged. "I understand your point of view," he said. "It's only natural for someone to be angry that someone they loved wasn't the person they thought they were."

James looked at him thoughtfully, realizing suddenly that his son and this boy were much more alike than he'd thought. "If there was a way, would you want to go back to your own world?" he asked.

Harry furrowed his brow in thought. "I don't know. I mean, my friends are all there and I'm sure they're going mental that I'm not there... And Sirius, of course."

"Yeah," James said, wincing a little. "Remus told us about all that. Not the easiest life, eh?"

Harry shook his head silently.

"Well, for however long you're here," James began slowly, "you're welcome."

Harry finally looked at him and James was relieved to see Lily's eyes staring at him in surprise. "Thank you."

James nodded, then looked around the kitchen for another subject. "So, Remus says you play Quidditch."

"Yeah. Seeker for Gryffindor." Harry hesitated. "I was the youngest player in a century; made the team first year."

"No kidding?" James said, impressed. "How'd you manage that?"

Harry grinned a little. "Well, it was all thanks to Professor McGonagall, Neville Longbottom's remembrall, and Draco Malfoy."

James raised an eyebrow. "You've piqued my interest..."

Over the next hour, not only did Harry explain how he'd made it onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a Seeker in his first year, but also went on to describe some of the things he and his friends had gotten up to at Hogwarts. Some of them were amusing, like the story of Gilderoy Lockhart vanishing all the bones in Harry's left arm after a Quidditch match, while some awoke a sense of pride in James, like how Harry had produced a corporeal stag-patronus in his third year to save himself and his escaped prisoner godfather from a hundred dementors.

Finally, James deemed it time for them to go back to bed. He and Harry silently made their way upstairs where they both lingered uncertainly at the top of the steps.

"Well, good night," Harry finally said.

James nodded. "Good night," he repeated. "We'll talk more later, yeah?"

The last look James got of the boy that night showed a small smile on his face.

* * *

**AN:** Wow, I'm impressed. Most of you actually bought that I was going to have Voldemort ambush Harry in the graveyard. Here I thought it was totally see-through. Anywho, if you will be so kind to review, I would be most appreciative. Thank you kindly.


	17. Seventeen

_**Through the Cupboard**_

By Neurotica

_Seventeen_

The remaining week in the Potter home was relatively uneventful when compared to the few days they'd gone through recently. Most notably, the wizarding press became more determined to get answers about what happened on Platform 9 ¾ on 1 September. A few mornings for the Potter family had been spent on their front porch watching as reporters attempted to get through their property's wards. Some of the more courageous of the bunch had been sent to St. Mungo's to have their electrocution injuries treated.

"Serves them right," Sirius said, looking over his shoulder as yet another reporter was jinxed. "It's not as though we haven't warned them..."

James shrugged as he held the door open for his friend. "Either they'll learn or the _Daily Prophet_ will need to hire a new staff," he said.

Ignoring the distant shrieks in the woods, Sirius followed his friend into his study. "So why are we meeting here instead of the Ministry?" he asked, sitting in a chair.

"I asked Harry who cursed him on the platform," James began, no hint of amusement on his face. "He says it was Draco Malfoy."

Sirius blinked. "Draco Malfoy? Lucius' kid?" James nodded. "Why would a fifteen-year-old use the Killing Curse on a fellow student, no matter whether they get along or not, in broad daylight?"

"Not sure," James said with a sigh. "But Harry also believes he was under the Imperius Curse. You said Lucius was on the train and he got you and Tonks before either of you saw him?"

Sirius nodded. "Yes. Are you thinking Lucius had his own son under the Imperius Curse so he could kill your son?"

"Do you have another suggestion?"

"No." Sirius sighed. "And somehow I'm not surprised, either. So we're going to Hogwarts to arrest him?"

James sighed in response. "I've already talked to Dumbledore. Before we march in there with an arrest warrant—which I have, by the way—he wants to question Draco on his own. And much as I hate to wait, I've agreed to let this happen. You and I will head back with Caleb on Monday morning and find out the results."

"Does Lily know about this?"

"Not yet. And if you'd be so kind, I'd rather she didn't find out until I've got more information."

"Rather she didn't find out what?"

Both wizards jumped as Lily wandered into the study. Sirius glanced at James a moment before standing and giving Lily a rather charming smile. "We didn't want you to know just beautiful you really are in the morning."

He could nearly see James rolling his eyes behind him.

"Thank you, Sirius," Lily said lightly. "But if you're going to flirt, make sure my husband isn't around to hear, won't you? Will you two hurry? Caleb should be home soon, Remus is on his way, and we have to figure out exactly what we're going to say to him."

"What's there to figure out?" Sirius asked, following Lily out of the room. "Just tell him his brother is a lot stranger than anyone ever thought and he's having a bit of an identity crisis."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, Sirius," Lily said dully as James clipped him in the back of the head.

They entered the living room to find Remus had already arrived with Helen and the two of them were greeting Piper and Harry. The boy seemed unaccountably nervous as he watched the fireplace.

"You okay?" James asked, sitting next to Harry on the sofa.

Harry let out a ragged breath. "Yeah, fine," he said with a higher-than-usual voice. "I tell people all the time that I've come from a parallel universe and that I'm actually not their brother."

James chuckled and patted his shoulder. "Caleb's a smart kid," he said. "He'll hear us out before he jumps to conclusions."

"Yeah," Harry muttered under his breath, "then all I have to worry about is Ralph the Mutated Cotton Ball eating me while I'm asleep."

"What was that?" James asked.

"Nothing."

All attention turned towards the fireplace as it lit up in green flames and a quiet chime sounded. Within seconds, the small whirling form of Caleb Potter materialized in the grate before it stumbled out onto the carpet. Piper detached herself from Remus to give her brother a hug. Caleb absently hugged her back as he looked around the room, his hazel eyes finally landing on Harry. The older boy gulped surreptitiously; Caleb grinned. "All right?" he asked Harry.

Harry somehow managed to grin back. "All right," he said quietly. "You?"

Caleb nodded. "I almost didn't get out of the common room this morning. Somehow, _Lav-Lav _found out I was coming home; she cornered me and begged to let her go in my place. Luckily Hermione was there to get me loose..."

For the next hour or so, the group sat around the kitchen table with a pot of stew for lunch and let Caleb describe the reactions of the Hogwarts student body. It didn't come as a surprise to Harry to find out he was the talk of the school. Some people were saying he had some sort of magic that repelled the Killing Curse while others claimed the entire incident on Platform 9 ¾ had been a setup by Harry that secured his position in Lord Voldemort's Inner Circle. Caleb seemed to enjoy this rumor more than any others; apparently with the whole of Hogwarts, terrified that Harry was some powerful Dark Lord, they feared picking on Caleb might draw unwanted attention to themselves.

After lunch, James, Lily, and Sirius took Caleb into James' study while Harry tried to occupy his mind with Remus, Helen, and Piper. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why he was so nervous about Caleb's reaction compared to those of the adults, which could have been far worse and landed Harry a cell in Azkaban Prison. The worse Caleb could do was get angry and maybe make Harry a test subject for one of his experiments.

_It's because you know Caleb's just started to like his brother and now he's being told his brother wasn't actually the one showing interest in Caleb's thoughts and inventions_, said one part of Harry's mind.

Harry sighed and stared at the empty fireplace. The past month had been one of the strangest he'd ever experienced, but it seemed to be settling down. Still, he knew that if he were given the chance to take everything back, to make it so that he'd never found the strange portal in the back of the cupboard and this world's Harry had never died, he wouldn't. It was horribly selfish, but since he was never going to get that chance anyway, he didn't think it mattered.

His mother and father had certainly accepted the situation quickly, though there were times during the day when James was at work and Harry would be walking through the house, and he would begin to hear sobbing. The source of the sobbing was his mother sitting in places like the kitchen pantry or in Piper's closet. Whenever Harry interrupted her crying, she would insist that she'd just stubbed her toe or broken a nail, and then attempt to go on with the day in a feigned cheery mood.

James was a little harder to catch in his grieving. It usually happened during dinnertime—the wizard would be caught staring into his mashed potatoes or with his fork paused in its path halfway to his mouth. And whenever one of these instances happened, James disappeared the moment the table was cleared and went out to fly or sit in his study for the night.

But anytime one of them found Harry sitting somewhere alone and near tears, they sat with him and told him to stop blaming himself. He hadn't been the one to cause this; it had been Lord Voldemort.

_Easy for them to say_, Harry thought broodingly. _Neither of them was the one who were locked in a cupboard, found a portal to another world, and was stupid enough to stick their hand through. If I'd just ignored my curiosity, none of this would have happened and I'd be back at school in my own world with my own friends who _want_ to spend time with me._

_Yeah, and if Voldemort had only been patted on the head once or twice and been told he was a good boy, there would be no coming war, would there? It's happened, deal with it. And if you hadn't come here, their Harry would have been dead and gone, and they would be attending a funeral instead of telling their youngest son that his brother, in some sense, was still alive._

Harry's brow furrowed. The tone in which his mind was speaking to him sounded suspiciously like the other Harry, the one from _this_ world. He tried to goad the voice into responding again, but nothing came; Harry finally had to come to the conclusion that even though the other boy was gone, there was still some remnants of his personality left behind.

_Makes sense. He wore this body for fifteen years, and I've only had it for a month._

Just as he'd decided he wasn't going insane, regardless of the voices in his head, the study door was yanked open, footsteps exited, and one set stomped up the stairs before slamming a door Harry was certain belonged to Caleb.

Heaving sighs, James, Lily, and Sirius entered the living room and collapsed into chairs. "Well, that went better than expected..." James said dully.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore sat behind his desk, his fingers steepled beneath his beard as he observed Draco Malfoy entering his study behind Severus Snape. Silently, the Headmaster gestured for them both to sit, all the time watching the boy's face for any sign of guilt.

"Good morning, Draco," Albus finally said. "Do you know why I've asked you here?"

Draco gulped as his eyes darted around the room nervously. After a few moments, he looked directly at the Headmaster, and nodded.

"Why?"

"Look, I didn't have anything to do with what happened to Potter!" Draco blurted, his tone desperate. "I didn't want that to happen! I didn't have a choice! He _made_ me!"

Albus' eyes widened briefly in surprise as he glanced at Severus. The other wizard was staring at Draco with a look of the same surprise. "Who made you, Draco?"

Draco took a shuddering breath. "I... I can't tell you," he said. Albus wasn't surprised to see tears coming from the boy's eyes. "He'll kill me if I do."

Albus sat forward in his chair, frowning. "Draco, Professor Snape and I only wish to help you. Anything you fear, we may be able to protect you from, but we cannot do that unless you've told us everything."

The boy didn't speak for several minutes, but during this silence, Albus discovered much more than Draco could have ever told him. For several seconds, Draco's grey eyes locked with the Headmaster's blue ones and Albus subconsciously projected his skills as a Legilimens towards the fifteen-year-old boy. Whether Draco was aware of what was happening as it occurred, he was never certain, but Albus was now observing several of Draco's memories of the morning in question as well as brief flashes pertaining to the incident.

Draco's father stood behind the boy during their journey through King's Cross train station, Draco looking nervously over his shoulder every few steps; the whispering of a few words in his father's voice and the feeling of a spell hitting him from behind; standing before Harry Potter on the platform, his wand trained on the person before him; the jet of green light shooting from his wand into Harry's chest; the sudden awareness of what had happened and Draco's fleeing the scene with his father, only to return some time later to board the train with the other students.

Albus slowly sat back in his chair, once again steepling his fingers beneath his beard. "I see," he said very softly. "Draco, if you were placed under the Imperius Curse, you can hardly be held accountable for your actions during that time. Whomever put you in that position would face the consequences instead, and if you will testify against that person, I will make sure that you are safe from reprisals for it."

Draco gulped again, faint traces of hope appearing in his eyes. "My mother—" he began.

"Will be protected as well," Albus interrupted. "But you must tell us everything. Take your time, calm yourself, and speak without fear..."

After a few moments with his eyes closed, Draco took a deep breath and began.

* * *

Rather late in the night, Harry sat in his room, on his bed, reading. The rest of the evening following Caleb's retreat to his bedroom had been rather tense in the house. The youngest Potter boy hadn't emerged all night—Lily had taken him a plate of dinner so he had the chance to eat if he so desired—but the Potter parents seemed convinced this mood wouldn't last much longer.

"He does this sometimes," James had told Harry. "If he comes across something he doesn't understand, that he can't find a logical explanation for, he shuts himself up in his room until he comprehends it, then he's fine."

Though Harry wanted to knock on Caleb's door and just get that confrontation over with, he waited. It would do no good to force his company on the younger boy if Caleb didn't want it. He did hope, however, that Caleb would eventually decide to make friends; Harry had grown rather fond of his younger brother...

He jumped at a soft knock at his door. "Come in," he called, expecting perhaps James or Lily to open the door. His surprise at the image of a bushy brown head of hair poking through the door was very high.

Hermione Granger gave him an uncertain smile. "Hi."

He managed to smile back. "Hi," he said, shaking himself a little. "What are you doing here?"

She opened the door fully, but still lingered near the doorframe. "Well, my aunt said you were out of hospital and your parents thought you might like some company... But I could come back later if this is a bad time."

"No, not at all," Harry said. "Come in, have a seat."

Hermione left the door and took a seat on top of Harry's school trunk across the room. "How are you feeling?"

Harry nodded. "Not bad," he replied. He and his parents had decided that, for the time being, the true version of what occurred on the platform should remain private. "How's school?"

Inwardly, he rolled his eyes as Hermione began going on and on about lessons; he should have known better than getting her on that particular subject. Still, it was nice to listen to a familiar voice. While she spoke, Harry wondered how best to get Hermione to trust him. She was so stuck on this world's Harry being a bully and a prat that it would probably take a lot, but it was definitely worth an attempt.

When Hermione paused to take a breath, Harry seized his chance. "I wondered if you could help me with something..." he said, scooting forward on the bed.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "What?" she asked hesitantly.

Harry sighed and pondered his words a moment before going on. "Well, first of all, I'm truly sorry for anything I've ever done to embarrass you. I've been an idiot and if this last week has shown me anything, it's that I don't have time to run around hexing people all the time."

Hermione was watching warily, as though waiting for an opening for one of Harry's pranks.

"And I was hoping you might help me stop being such a berk and grow up some..." Harry trailed off at the look on his friend's face. "What?"

"What's the catch?" she asked.

"No catch," Harry said, grinning. "I just don't think I could do it and have people actually believe that I've changed on my own."

"And you want me to help with convincing people that you're not a prat anymore?"

"Yes."

Hermione sighed. "Well, you'll have to forgive me if I don't immediately jump at the chance. While it has been nice to be around you without having to worry about you hexing my food or something, I haven't really had a chance to think about this much..."

Harry nodded understandingly. "That's fine," he assured her. "I'll probably be back at school next week, depending on what the Healers say when I see them on Wednesday, so maybe we can talk then.''

"Sure," Hermione said warily, still unsure what to think about Harry.

There was another knock on the door and Harry again called for the visitor to come in. To his immense surprise, Caleb opened the door, looking inside nervously.

"Hello, Caleb," Hermione said brightly.

Caleb jumped at the voice, then looked at Hermione in slight bemusement. "Er, hi, Hermione..."

Hermione looked between the two brothers, then got to her feet, as though she could sense there was something Caleb wanted to discuss with Harry in private. "Well, I should get back to Hogwarts," she said, heading towards the door. "I've still got some work for Arithmancy to finish."

Harry waved as Hermione left the room and closed the door behind her, leaving him alone with Caleb.

"Er, can I come in?" Caleb asked rather awkwardly, looking anywhere but at Harry.

Harry smiled a little. "You're already in, aren't you?" He waved towards the desk chair. "Have a seat."

Caleb nodded and crossed the room to the indicated spot. The two boys sat in awkward silence for several minutes before Caleb finally sighed and looked up at Harry. "So," he said, spreading his hands as though demonstrating something. "_Not_ my brother."

Harry gave a short chuckle. "Technically speaking, no."

Again, Caleb sighed, then laughed shortly. "I should have known," he said, shaking his head. "_My _brother was never as nice to me as you've been. Hell, if he'd seen some of those things I showed you, he would have taken pride in smashing every last one of them."

Harry smiled sympathetically. Caleb, for the first time since Harry had first laid eyes on him, looked much younger than his mere twelve years of age; his genius was no match for a brother from another world. Harry hesitated only for a moment before speaking. "You know, just because he never told you, it doesn't mean he didn't care about you." Caleb snorted humorlessly. "I'm serious. Weird as this might sound, he was actually impressed with those experiments of yours."

"You're right," Caleb said blandly. "That does sound weird."

Harry sighed. "Well, I can't take back the way your brother treated you, but if you'd like, maybe I can try to make up for it."

Caleb's brow furrowed. "Why would you do that? It's not your fault my brother was a git."

"True," Harry conceded. "But maybe I never got the chance to have a brother and maybe I want to try it out."

Slowly, Caleb nodded. "I do have to admit it's been nice not looking over my shoulder to see what prank has been setup for me... Maybe it would be nice to have a proper brother for a change..."

Harry grinned.

For the next couple hours, Harry and Caleb talked. Harry told the other boy several details of his life in his own world, which Caleb seemed to enjoy very much. There would probably be a point in the near future where Caleb, just like his parents, sat down and the shock of the situation wore off some. Until then, Caleb seemed content to just believe the boy in front of him was his brother and always had been, and Harry wasn't going to burst the boy's bubble.

When Caleb finally went to bed, Harry lay down himself, turned off the light, and stared at the ceiling above him. It was finally sinking into his mind that his life had probably changed forever, but on the whole he was okay with the changes. He had parents and siblings, he had his godfather and Remus, and he seemed to be getting Hermione back. There were still a few things he wanted to try to salvage, his friendship with Ron chief among them, but the rest of his old life he was happy to leave behind.

His eyes closed and he drifted into sleep, and just as he passed the threshold between consciousness and dreams, he saw an instant's flash of a black-haired boy with green eyes and an unscarred forehead, who grinned widely at him and gave him a thumbs-up before turning and walking away.

* * *

**AN:** Yes, my friends, this is the final chapter of the story. I apologize for not updating sooner, but laziness and lack of motivation have been hanging around my head lately. There will be a sequel... just as soon as I come up with a decent title. Thank you _very much_ to whydoyouneedtoknow for beta-reading this story for me. Thank you to everybody who has reviewed this story—you're all awesome! And now if you would be so kind, please review one last time and I will see you (hopefully) soon with a sequel!


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